


Never Empty

by CaptainSchmoe



Series: The Never Empty AU [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Dogs, Family, Fluff, Love at First Sight, M/M, New Neighbors, Nightmares, Nurse!Mark, Pastel!Mark, Pastel/Punk AU, Romance, literally loving thy neighbor, mechanic!Jack, offscreen woohoo, past trauma, punk!jack, storytelling flashbacks, switching POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2019-11-14 02:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 19,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18044072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSchmoe/pseuds/CaptainSchmoe
Summary: Seán just moved into a new townhouse and he hits it off fast with the cute single dad next door. Maybe he can integrate into their family? If everyone’s okay with that, of course.Depends on if Mark and his kid have gotten over what happened by now.(Please read the tags and proceed with caution. This story sounds cutesy but contains some very troubling material.)





	1. A Welcome Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Mark’s daughter will start this story at seven years old. She’ll turn eight later.

**_Monday, September 23, 2019_ **

_Home, sweet home._

It was the mantra Seán repeated to himself each time he climbed up the four smooth pavement steps to his new townhouse. To help him adjust to the radically different environment - though, in all honesty, he didn’t much need it. Living in a city, with neighbors, was brand-new territory and he loved the prospect of the greater hustle and bustle, the greater chance of meeting someone new on any given day. Thus, despite having been a lonesome country boy his entire life up until this point, he was quick to emotionally settle into his new home. His true home.

Smaller, narrower, but with multiple floors for plenty of space for all his stuff in the end. By now, with the help of a moving crew, he’d gotten all his furnature and electronics and decoractions and knickknacks settled into place to make it truly _his_. All he wanted to do those first few days was marvel at how his living room came together in its black and white glory, how his new modern bathroom refreshed his body and mind, and how his bed felt like new under the light of the city sun beaming down onto it.

And it was while he was absorbing himself in the familiar antics of Rick and Morty that he heard his doorbell. Wonder who that was? He paused the show and bounded for front door, pondering the possibility that it was probably just a package delivery he must have forgotten about.

He gently pulled open the door to find a young Asian man, maybe even his same age, with a large fluff of black hair on his head, a small amount of stubble across his jawline, and a soft, pastel-pink hoodie with a Pusheen on a couch above some text reading “Home is where my butt is,” which Seán had to suppress a chuckle at.

With him was a young girl who resembled him, probably his daughter or niece or something, with a baby blue headband pulling back her shorter, scruffier hair. She wielded a batch of chocolate chip cookies cling-wrapped to a paper plate.

“Welcome!” she sang, shoving the cookies up towards Seán.

“Aww!” He took the plate from her hands - warm and rich in that sweet, comforting smell. He beamed the friendliest smile he could at her. “Thank you!”

“We saw you just moved in,” the man said. His thumb pointed to the door opposite Seán’s. “We live right next door and just wanted to say hi.”

Aw, that was so nice of them. “Well, hi there! Seán McLoughlin.” He held out his hand. “But I’m often called ‘Jack’, too.”

The man shook hands. “Mark Fischbach. And this is my daughter, Chloe.”

“Hi,” she said, going for a handshake of her own. God, she was adorable. So was Mark, to be honest. Not too many grown men wore pink Pusheen jumpers. It was a little bit of a contrast to Seán’s own plain black T-shirt, tattered black jeans, and fat black gages in his ears. And those huge tattoos on his arms.

But then again, Seán didn’t have a little girl living with him. And he was honestly a little surprised that he didn’t intimidate her at all. Maybe she saw past that and focused on how friendly his face was? He hoped.

“I think you’ll like living here,” Mark said. “Especially if you like doing outdoorsy stuff.”

“Oh, yeah, I saw this place had an on-site gym and tennis courts and a swimming pool and everything.”

“Yeah, and it’s a pretty safe neighborhood overall, too.”

Chloe rocked back and forth on her feet, her eyes having drifted down towards the floor.

“Plus, it’s right next to the dog park,” Mark added. “We’ve got a golden retriever, Chica.”

Seán grinned. “Aw, I love retrievers!”

Chloe started to bury herself in Mark’s jumper, suddenly seeming to grow more and more fidgety and uneasy. Mark seemed to notice, too, glancing down at her, putting a hand on her shoulder, and changing the subject.

“Well, I should probably let you dig into those cookies while they’re still warm.”

“Yeah, thank you so much for those,” Seán said, mostly to Chloe. “They smell awesome.”

”Thanks,” she said, more quietly this time.

“Feel free to chat if you see us around.”

“Okay.” _I will. You’re such a sweet guy. I’d love to get to know you more._ “Same with you!”

“Alright, Chloe, let’s head inside.” Mark started to tug her towards their door. “Say bye!”

She waved. “Bye, Jack!”

“Bye, guys!”

 

* * *

 

With them gone and Seán back in his kitchen, he ripped off the cling wrap and took a huge bite of the first cookie. Melty, gooey goodness filled his mouth. No way was he going to save any of them for later, hell no. Good thing there were only... six of them? Yeah, he could go through them all while he still could.

What nice people. What an adorable man. What an adorable girl.

Seán sure hoped he could spend more time with them in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I named the child “Chloe” because it’s similar to “Cloak” lol.)


	2. Too Old For This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a whole lot happens, sorry.

**_Tuesday, September 24, 2019_ **

Maybe it wasn’t the _best_ idea to have eaten six chocolate chip cookies in one sitting. While not in danger of throwing up - yet - Seán’s stomach felt bloated and he needed the cool September night breeze and the occasional sip of water to settle it. He might not be able to sleep for a while. Good thing he didn’t start his new job quite yet. He still had some time to get settled.

Maybe some time to connect with that Mark guy. Or even some of the other folks in the area. Plenty of people were taking advantage of the courts while they still could, before the chill of winter ripped them away.

But especially that Mark guy. Seán was particularly drawn to him, between the fluffy sweater and the friendly face.

With his stomach now less agitated, Seán curled back up into bed.

 

* * *

 

He awoke to a cacophany of birds blasting “song” into his bedroom at... six in the morning, jeez. Shouldn’t they be south by now? “Please, just fly south!” he shouted back at them before slamming the window shut. “Please!”

 _Ugh_ , he did _not_ want to be awake at this hour. Not yet. Just five more minutes.

.........

He had to get used to being up this early, though, didn’t he?

Well. Time for a caffeine fix. If he was going to survive these extra three hours, he was gonna need a _lot_ of that dirty bean water. He headed down the stairs for the kitchen, taking a moment to marvel at the outdoors at this early hour. Despite the grogginess, it felt... good. Nostalgic, somehow. Or perhaps “refreshing” was the better word.

.........

Nah, it still sucked being tired.

Seán continued to gaze out the kitchen window, addicted to the newness of the place and time, as the coffee pot worked its magic. It was staying noticeably darker at this hour now, and dew once again began to coat and obscure the bottom third of his windows. No more summer, huh?

If that wasn’t enough to prove fall was here, a growing crowd of children in backpacks began to hang around a spot on the sidewalk. One of them he recognized as Chloe, with a little tan purse in addition to a Pokémon backpack, distancing herself from most of the crowd, save for one other girl she was happily chatting with. So she was more of an introvert, probably. She kind of struck him as such during their interaction yesterday.

Then he saw Mark dressed in a navy blue shirt, matching pants, and tennis shoes getting into his car and waving goodbye to his little girl. A number of the kids waved back, like they all knew him. _How cute!_ A brown-haired woman in a bright, primary-colored jacket, accompanied by a retriever-ish mutt, also came out to chat with him and Chloe before either of them left. She must have been her mother.

Seán took careful sips of the bitter coffee as he waited to see the kids off. Sometimes he still couldn’t get over just how long it’d been since he was in their position, or the fact that no one born in 19-whatever was a kid anymore, and that he was looking at a group of people who could’ve been born in 2010 or later... and weren’t itty-bitty little babies.

_I’m getting old._

The familiar growl of the school bus came rolling up the street, and Seán watched the kids pile on, with Chloe and her friend saving themselves for last, perhaps to avoid the shoving. He saw them hop into a seat in the middle. Then, they were gone.

Wonder if Chloe ever played Pokémon with her friends at school? Was it still a “cool” thing to do nowadays? Or had its time passed? He sure hoped not. He still pulled out Blue or Silver every now and then for a nostalgia fix. Hopefully Chloe would think of the version she played now with that same fondness when she was older.

Not a minute after the bus pulled away, and Seán caught sight of the woman and her dog leaving in her own vehicle.

Hm.


	3. The Early Bird Catches These Hands

Having had a sudden craving for Pokémon again thanks to Chloe, Seán poured some hours into a new game of Silver, making it from the to his fourth badge before stopping to get up and outside, just so he didn’t feel like a lazy piece of shit. And also because his eyes were aching from the lack of sleep. Should he sneak in a nap, or tough it out and go to bed early? Because tomorrow was going to be a long-ass day. Orientation. Blech.

The daytime was still plenty warm enough that he changed into a tank top before heading out. The sun gave him a small perk in energy, as did the presence of a handful of other people he assumed lived elsewhere in the complex. Some on bikes, some jogging, a pair on the tennis courts, another pair playing fetch with a pair of dachshunds (whose names were Ginger and Presley, Seán overheard). Leaves on the trees overhead gradually acquired yellow on the edges. A small handful were sprinkled here and there on the ground.

...Ah. There was Mark over in the distance, jogging towards him. Still, it was only... two in the afternoon, if he remembered right? Why was he off work so early?

_’Feel free stop by and chat if you want!’_

...Well. He wanted to. Seán gave him a wave and a “Hey, Mark!” and got a weak, exhausted smile and wordless wave back. Heavily panting and drenching his NASA shirt in sweat, Mark collapsed onto the first empty bench he saw and guzzled half his water bottle in about three swigs.

“You doing okay?” Seán asked.

Mark nodded. “Yeah. Just gotta... sit awhile.” He plowed through nearly all the remaining water, gasping between swallows. “I’ll be fine.”

Seán took a seat next to him, trying his best to push past the stink. “You’re pretty active, huh?” he said in a less-than-stellar attempt at conversation.

“Yeah. Try to run and be outside...” _Pant._ “...as much as I can.” With the first bottle drained, he moved on to the second one.

“I used to, but I kinda dropped off lately.” Seán lowkey hoped the conversation would go in the direction it felt it was going.

”Yeah, it’s taken me a couple tries and fails to stay motivated to be active. And my schedule had to change after Chloe came along. Can’t do my early morning runs like I used to.” He took another drink, and let the words hang in the air for a moment, Seán nodding in understanding... but deep down, dreading the fact that he made neighbors with one of _those_ people. Those overly-joyous _Morning People_. The ones who actually _enjoyed_ getting out of bed at the ass crack of dawn, the sworn enemies of Night Owls like himself.

A woman’s voice behind them interrupted his thoughts and Mark’s next words by laughing at Presley the Dachshund for apparently tripping over his own sausage legs, which Seán and Mark both giggled at.

_Whoa._

Seán felt an extra pang of joy from hearing the pure, deep timbre of Mark’s laugh, and from the little crow’s feet that formed at the corners of his eyes. That... was sudden. And kind of unnecessary.

 _Don’t get excited, dumbass,_ he commanded his (currently very disobedient) brain. _He’s your arch-nemesis. And a married dad._

“But anyway...”

“Yeah?” Seán asked, mildly jolted.

Mark didn’t notice. “I don’t know how well our schedules would line up, since I’ve got kinda weird hours, but if they do at all...” His voice perked up. “...we could be workout buddies.”

 _Don’t get excited!_ “Yeah, that could be fun!” _Dammit._ Caving to his deep-seated desire for affection and contact again.

“Great! So let’s see... I’ve got the next three days off...”

_...What did I get myself into._


	4. Bouncing Around

Mark’s laugh made Seán too happy.

The way he smiled at passing children and dogs made Seán too happy.

Just the act of walking back home and talking with him and learning about him made Seán too happy.

He was a nurse at Trinity, hence the strange hours he’d rattled off earlier. He claimed to enjoy working 12-hour shifts and having three-day “weekends” (even though they weren’t actually on the weekend). His favorite type of workout was jogging - something Seán would have to tell him at some point was a little hard for him as his body often wouldn’t sweat for some reason. He used to jog up to four miles a day before Chloe was was born, and he recently has been able to work up the stamina to get to 2 1/2 miles again.

 _Waaaay_ more of a health nut than Seán, and yet none of that fazed him, because it was Mark.

And maybe Seán was just desperately imagining it, but Mark’s eyes seemed to light up with genuine interest when he asked about Seán and got his answers - was Seán being a mechanic really _that_ interesting? He was sure Mark would’ve asked about his Irish accent instead, but he didn’t. Maybe he thought it was rude?

It was entirely possible this feeling would pass with time, or that he’d at least be able to cope with it over time, or... something. Right now, he tried his hardest to drill into his brain that a close friendship was the only feasible thing that could be accomplished. Perhaps then it would learn to get over it and shut up. Seán could still very well be happy. There were other fish out there.

Besides, he literally just met Mark yesterday.

Mark pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. The retriever he’d mentioned yesterday approached them as they entered. “Hey, Chica-Bica,” he rumbled, squatting down to rough up her hair. Seán smiled when he let go and she made a beeline for him.

“Hi, doggy!”

Her tail wagged as he scratched her head and neck. Soft fur. Happy puppo.

Mark pulled a note off a pad of paper magneted to the fridge and began writing down what the two of them had worked out; Seán left Chica for the time being and sat on a stool at the island, watching intently. Though, he did feel Chica nudging up against him, and he continued to scratch her because she was a good girl and she deserved scratches.

So Seán’s schedule was 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, Wednesday to Sunday, with Monday and Tuesday off.

And Mark’s was 7:30 am to 7:30 pm Saturday to Monday, 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm Tuesday, with Wednesday to Friday off.

“I think I'd be comfortable having a few hours on Tuesday to be workout buddies,” Mark declared. “Technically, there’s more time we could squeeze in, like in the evenings, but I don’t really want to spend much more time away from Chloe than I already do...”

“Totally fine,” Seán assured him. _Wow, you thought about fitting in more time with me?_ "So who's gonna look after her until you get home, then, or is she gonna join us, or...?"

"Oh, she's had a babysitter for almost a year now. I'll ask her if it's alright for her to do extra - and I'll pay her extra, of course - but I'm sure she'll be fine with it. Or maybe we can have Chloe nearby, or..." Mark ripped the two halves apart and gave one to Seán. He winked.  _Winked._  "We'll work something out."

"Oh, okay." _Oh, god, you did NOT need to do that._

"I'll let you know if we need to change anything."

His handwriting was a messy, just-legible scrawl, and it made Seán way too happy to own a piece of it. Mark went to stick his own copy onto the fridge, already cluttered with worn-down alphabet magnets that could spell “Chloe”, a child’s drawing of of a happy family of three plus a dog, a bill, a thoroughly-written-on calendar... Too much stuff; so much that Mark struggled to find a place for the new paper without stuff threatening to fall to the floor.

Seán’s eyes went to a black and white photo magnet, depicting a baby held between two people’s arms, with tiny cursive text down along the right side that would be impossible to read unless his face was right up next to it.

“Fuck it.” Mark tossed the bill onto the counter and replaced it with the schedule. “There. I’ll just... handle that later tonight. You good to go?” he asked with a thumbs-up?

Seán returned it. “Sure am. Thanks, man.”

“No problem, uhh...”

“Seán.”

“No, I know your name, it’s just... You said you also go by ‘Jack,’ right?”

Seán shrugged. “Either one.”

“...I’m gonna call you ‘Jack,’” Mark said. “You look more like a Jack to me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Seán asked, laughing.

“Well, I mean... It just sounds...” Mark’s hand flailed for the right words. His face turned a little pink. “Soft,” he quickly covered. “‘Seán’ sounds like a soft name.”

“I’m soft!” he defended. “I just don’t look soft the way you do.”

Mark sheepishly smiled and turned his face towards the floor at that. _Aw, oh no, he just keeps getting cuter, fuck._ “Thanks.”

Seán’s cheeks warmed with embarrassment.

A sudden scrunch of Mark’s face killed the heat. “Uh, I should probably shower and stuff before Chloe gets home. I can smell myself.”

“Ha ha... Never good when you can smell yourself.” Seán made way for the door. “You’ll probably knock your kid out as soon as she walks in.”

“Probably.” Mark waved. “So I’ll see you Tuesday around whenever you get home? Maybe 4:00-ish?"

“Yup! 4:00 works!”

 

* * *

 

Drumming helped stop the fidgeting.

All his limbs wanted to do was move and bounce, and with the extra spark of energy coursing through him, what better way to channel it than into the old drum kit that he admittedly hadn’t found the time or motivation to play in months? He still didn’t have the focus right now to learn a new song, instead banging out some simple System of a Down for old time’s sake.

God, why did he ever drop this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The magnet will come back.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Also, I have a surgery in less than an hour after posting this (four full bony wisdom teeth, yay) so wish me luck.~~
> 
>  
> 
> Update: Surgery went well. ^^


	5. Men at Work

**_Wednesday, September 25, 2019_ **

Well, today was the day.

Seán looked pretty good in his uniform of a nice navy blue shirt, intact black jeans, and brand-new dark gray tennis shoes, although today Chase‘s would be giving him a handful of their own shirts for him to wear as well. A mechanic. It was a far cry from hotal management. But Seán loved working with his hands, he loved studying and knowing how things worked and fixing them, whether it was a computer or a car. But “computer programmer” and similar were a little too much of sit-down jobs. Seán liked to move his legs, he liked standing up and walking. And being in a building with huge garage door windows gave him that fresh air he always craved.

And there was something kind of romantic about the whole dirty, roughed-up tough guy kind of look, wasn’t there? “Romantic” in the sense of fantasizable, that was. And also as in romance. People found that hot, as long as there was a decent guy underneath the grimy, tattooed exterior, which Seán always tried his best to be.

So, “mechanic” it was.

Fighting the grogginess with a cup of coffee and a quick breakfast of peanut butter and jelly toast, Seán headed out to his car. And seeing the kids begin to cluster around the bus stop again gave him a nice little boost as well. There was Chloe, with dark and light purple V-striped shirt, pink butterfly clips in her hair above her ears, and a silver bracelet. Currently, she was more distanced from the other kids, hands in her pants pockets, staring down the street.

Man... Seeing kids made Seán think about what life would be like with one of those little goobers living with him, under his care. Would he make a good father? Did he have the personality and dedication for it? Would it be too overwhelming? And what if he ended up having a child with special needs? Would he be able to properly provide for them and make them safe and happy at home?

...No, these weren’t questions he needed to be asking himself. This wasn’t an issue that was relevant to him.

As he pulled out of the driveway, he caught Chloe “secretly” waving at him, and he smiled and quickly waved back.

 

* * *

 

Orientation wasn’t so bad. His direct manager - a large, glasses-clad, curly blond-haired man called Bob - seemed like a cool guy. A coworker, Arin, confirmed to Seán in private that Bob was a pretty easygoing fellow as long as nobody caused anything to go wrong. Even things just breaking down on their own didn’t make him lose his cool.

A little boring? Yeah. No shit. He saw that garage and saw the cars and wanted to get in there right away! But, well, rules were rules. Nothing he could do about that. There was always tomorrow.

Not that he would’ve functioned well as a worker today anyway. If he was completely honest with himself, a number of the (less urgent, he made sure) words that came out of Bob’s mouth went straight through Seán’s ears, as his mind was a little too occupied with thoughts of Mark watching him work. Whether he suppressed them or entertained them, they were always there: Seán being watched by the cutest guy on Earth while he was wheeled under one of them cars...

He managed to mentally slap himself out of it before he dropped a stupid, forced-dirty line about fixing Mark’s engine. Partly because Bob was showing him where the fire extinguishers were and how to use them. Kind of important.

 

* * *

 

The school bus was right in front of him on his way home. Following close behind, stopping periodically, waving at the kids who decided to wave at him. What cuties. They could be demons at home or school and Seán wouldn’t know, just calling them cuties.

That meant Chloe was also mere steps in front of him when the bus stopped in front of the townhouse complex; the two locked eyes and waved at each other again as he pulled into the parking lot.

She seemed to have deliberately waited for him to come inside, as she was already turned facing him and telling him “Hi,” rather than going inside her home, as he came into the main entrance.

“Hi!” he said, beaming down at her. “Have a good day at school?”

“Kinda.”

“Same. I had a ‘kinda’ day at work today.”

“Where do you work?”

“I fix cars at Chase’s Auto Shop. It’s down the street along where your bus takes you, I think.”

Chloe nodded towards the floor, then asked, “Did you like the cookies?”

“I sure did!” He slapped his belly. “I ate ‘em all right away!”

“Jeez!” she said, making them both start laughing. “Why did you do that?”

“I wanted to eat ‘em while they were still warm and gooey! That’s how cookies need to be!”

The door behind her clicked and popped open a smidgen, with Mark poking his head out to see what was going on. “Hey, sweetheart.” He smiled, and Seán saw the sleeve of another pastel jumper, starting with orange at the tip and going up the rainbow in stripes, ending in pink at the shoulder. “Hi, Jack.”

“Hi.” Already, Seán felt his face warm up again. _Why? Why did it have to be this way?_

“Dad, Jack ate all the cookies already!”

“He did?” He fake-glared at Seán. “What did you do that for?”

“He said it‘s because you gotta eat ‘em while they’re warm and gooey!”

Mark chuckled. There it was again. That goddamn _feeling_. “That you do, Chloe, that you do. You feel funny at all, like you need a juice?”

“No, I feel okay.”

“That’s good.” He opened the door wide, nudging her out of the way and revealing the full rainbow on him. “Well, why don’t we check your sugar anyway just in case? You said you wanted to go swimming if it got warm again, right?”

 _What are they talking about? Sugar? Is she diabetic?_

_”Yeeeaaah!!!”_ Chloe zipped inside, dropping her backpack in front of the door and causing a ruckus in what Seán guessed was their kitchen. 

“Oh!” Mark shouted once Chloe slipped inside. “I talked to the babysitter and she said she can totally fit an extra couple hours on Tuesday to watch Chloe. So...” He gave Seán a thumbs-up, a wink, and a click of the tongue. “We’re good to go.”

Seán bashfully giggled, replying, “That’s good.”

_Just give it a few days._

_The feeling will go away._

_Someday._

_If he stops fucking teasing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided that I’m going to include Mark-and-Chloe segments after writing one out just now and loving it to bits. I feel like it’d be important down the line to get their feelings and interactions clearly shown.


	6. Here for You Always

“Look, Dad! I’m doing it!”

“Yeah!” Mark laughed in pride as his baby girl breaststroked her first lap around the shallow end with no water wings. “Go, go, go!” he cried, pumping his fist.

“Whee!” She made her way closer and closer to the deep end, Mark keeping a close eye on her. But he was sure she could do it just fine. She was a big, strong girl now. It brought a lump to his throat if he thought about it too much, to be honest.

She stopped at the 5’ point, though, seeming a little unsure if she was “allowed” to go farther. Mark saw her try and fail to test-touch the bottom while holding on to the edge, and a twinge of fear entered her eyes.

“Come on!” he encouraged her, swimming past her to the 7’ point. “Come to me! You can do it!”

Chloe inched forward along the cement, keeping a hand on it while making swimming motions with her free arm and legs, conscious of how far away from her feet the bottom was.

“Oh, I think you can swim without holding on,” Mark said with a smile. He moved away from the wall, treading water in the middle of the pool. “Can you come to me?” he asked with an arm outstretched.

“Um...” Chloe stared at the increasingly-blue water below her, terror beginning to grow on her face. “Dad, I don’t think I can do it. It’s too scary.”

“It won’t be as bad as you think, Chloe.”

“I can’t do it!”

“I’ve got you, sweet pea.” Mark continued to hold out his hand. “Nothing bad’s gonna happen to you.”

Her teary eyes met his.

“I promise.”

With a few seconds more of hesitation, and a little whine, Chloe let go of the wall, and Mark patiently waited.

“Take your time.”

 

* * *

 

 

_Mark is unavailable._

_Mark is unavailable._

_Mark is unavailable._

Repeating the mantra helped a little bit to soothe the incessant thoughts. Not enough to allow him to focus on drumming again today - he kept flubbing even basic practice rhythms for some reason - but at least enough to let him focus on taking on a couple Gyms in peace.

“Oh, fuck you!” he shouted as he received some very unfair freeze hax. “Oh, and I didn’t get any ice meds. ‘Cause I _figured I wouldn’t need ‘em!_ You never need ice meds!” He spammed the buttons, praying for a thaw next turn so he wouldn’t faint to another Ice Beam. “Come on,” he urged his Ampharos, “one Thunderpunch, that’s all I need, and if you die this turn, I’m gonna kill you.”

_ZIS MOFO is frozen solid!_

”FUCK!!!”

 

* * *

 

Slowly, and focusing intently on nothing but Dad, Chloe pushed herself towards the center of the pool, and to Mark’s hand. Only five seconds, tops, and they were touching before she even realized it, Mark pulling her in close to him.

“There! You did it! See how far you came?” He pointed to both the edge where she just came from, and to the shallow end. He ruffled her hair as she surveyed the area with a proud grin. “You have it in you.”

Her eyes went towards the deep end of the pool, then back to the shallow end, evaluating the distances. “Are we closer to that end?” she asked, pointing to the 10’ point.

“Yup.”

Mark felt her aiming to swim towards that end, loosening his grip on her to let her know that she was allowed to go there if she wanted. And she pushed herself towards it, swimming the biggest strokes she could towards the 10’ mark on the cement, bumping into the cement and slapping down onto the number, turning back to Mark.

“Look, Dad! Aren’t I awesome?” she asked.

“You sure are, kid!” he replied, following behind.

“Race ya back!” Again, she launched herself off the side and made a mad dash for the shallow end before Mark could process what was happening.

“Whoa! Wait!” he laughed. “Hold up!”

“No! It’s a race!” Chloe splashed her way as fast as she could to the shallow end, with Mark on her trail, deliberately keeping _just_ behind her.

“No!” he gasped as they passed into the official shallow end. “No! I’m gonna lose!”

“Ha ha!” Chloe taunted. “You can’t catch me!”

She bumped into the end of the pool seconds before Mark did. He panted in his loss.

“I win!” She slapped the cement and swayed in the water, her little victory dance.

“Dangit.” Mark heaved himself out of the pool, going over to check what time it was on his watch. “Well, it’s been about an hour, sweetie. Think we should pack up? You’ve probably got homework and I gotta make dinner...”

“Can I swim down there and back one more time?” she begged.

Mark held up a finger. “ _One_ more time.”

“‘Kay.”

He watched her take her last leisurely swim as he wrapped himself up for warmth and picked up all their things. Mere minutes ago she was terrified, and all it took was a little encouragement. And normally, he hesitated to do this whole little “just one more time” song and dance, but God, he was so proud of her for being able to take such a huge step forward. It took a lot out of him to not cry right then.

_Look at how confident she is, Mom._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here you see me show off the fact that I play way too much Pokémon lol.


	7. Quelling the Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Hey, guys. I struggled a lot with this one, which is why it took longer and why it may seem “rushed” towards the end. Or maybe that’s just in my head. Who knows.]

Dread hung over Mark’s head, yet he did his best to convert it into hope. As he had been for several months now, night after night that he was home to put Chloe to bed. Peaceful family time. Peaceful dinner. Peaceful homework.

Lately, none of that meant shit.

As soon as the little hand hit the 8, the beast shone in Chloe’s eyes, whether it decided to make an early bird presence or not. Tonight was no exception. Tension thickened the air, like it was obligated to.

Even Amy, who used to claim for months Chloe was such an angel with her, began reporting more such nights like this one when she was in charge. And it frustrated him. What was he doing wrong? Why was she so angry every night now? How could he make her happier?

But the therapist had told him so many times over he needed to compose himself and keep trying.

He approached her on the couch, absorbed in what sounded like a Kirby game on her 3DS and petting a napping Chica on the floor with her foot. Seemingly automatically, her body squished itself further into the couch, and her hands put the game closer to her face. On the defensive already.

“Chloe?” he asked in the gentlest voice he could muster. “It’s 8:00.”

“‘Kay.”

No further response.

“...That means you need to put the game down and get ready for bed.”

She ignored him. Time for Level 2.

“Chloe. If you keep playing games when I say it’s time for bed, I’m going to take them away from you.”

“No.”

“Then save and quit.”

“No.”

Mark leaned over the back of the couch, sending Chloe into an angry panic, slamming the game shut and shoving it under herself. Chica raised her head.

“No!”

“Then get ready for bed. I’m not going to ask again.”

Chloe buried the game further under her, and sprang up and away towards the staircase when Mark made a grab for it, somehow managing to avoid tripping over the thoroughly-startled Chica.

“Chloe!”

It happened faster than Mark could react.

She tripped on the first step and faceplanted. Her game slipped out of her hand.

A split second of silence.

“Oh, shit-”

Followed by a hiccup and a loud wail.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” As he moved to touch her, she swatted his hand away, crying even louder. A bright red mark formed across her cheek, and she likely had more on the rest of her body as well. “Is anything broken?”

_“Leave me alone!”_

“I just need to make sure how bad it-”

He got a painful kick to the ribs. _”STOP!!!”_

“Chloe Ann-Marie!”

“I want Mommy!”

Mark recoiled.

“I want Mommy...” Chloe blubbered. “I want Mommy...” She lay helplessly flopped on the stairs, tears staining her cheeks and the hardwood. Chica anxiously paced around the living room.

What answer did he have to that? Did he just remind her she couldn’t have Mommy? Did he remind her she still had Daddy by her side? Did he just let her cry? Everything he learned from therapy failed to arrive and left his mind drawing blanks.

At least, until her shriek of _”Go awaaay!!”_ , which sent him backing away into the living room, to be left alone stewing in his thoughts, his doubts, and the sounds of Chloe’s pain.

 

* * *

 

 

The creaks and groans of the staircase gave away Chloe’s movements; she was heading upstairs, presumably to her bedroom, or the bathroom. The fact that she’d settled down and was able to climb them helped Mark believe a little more that nothing was broken, though he’d still like to do a last-minute check.

But what if that made her angry again?

...No. He had to follow her up. The worried dad was coming out.

Mark kept a good distance behind her, waiting for her to choose a room - her bedroom - before climbing the stairs. If she was going to retreat in there, though, it probably wasn’t the best idea to invade her space. And the creaking staircase was likely to alert her to him following her. To avoid seeming overbearing, Mark changed his destination, heading to his own bedroom, shutting the door, and crawling onto his own bed, pulling his phone from the nightstand and mindlessly scrolling through timelines and feeds filled with dumb dogs and pretty scenery and political calls to action.

It was numbing at this point, just going through the motions of blocking out the world around him when it failed yet again to give him just one day when he could peacefully put Chloe to bed. Something he hadn’t had in months.

The tiniest knocks on Mark’s door ripped his attention out of his phone’s hands. “Dad?”

“Yeah?” He shoved the device under his pillow.

“Can I come in?”

“Yes.”

The door cracked open just enough for Chloe to peek in; the red mark on her brow was rapidly swelling into a purplish bruise. Already she’d changed into her favorite pajamas (a yellow shirt and sky blue pants, both adorned with baby chicks) and was probably ready for bed in general. She stared at him for a couple seconds.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?”

“Can I have a hug?”

Mark held out his arm over the edge of the bed to help her up. “Yes, you can.”

Chloe climbed up largely by herself, clambering (admittedly uncomfortably) onto Mark’s lap, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, and getting a soft hug with back pats in return. Well, this was progress, at least. Being able to end the night on a gentle, if sad, note. She didn’t normally come to him like this, settling for a rough “Night,” and leaving it at that. But she also didn’t normally smash her face against the stairs.

Come to think of it... If Mark remembered right, Chloe didn’t even slow down at the moment she tripped, as if she somehow failed to judge the distance of the stairs she’d been familiar with for several years.

Might want to get that looked into.

“I’m sorry I’m so mean to you,” she said into his shoulder.

He coaxed her to sit down on the bed and look him in the eye. “You’re not going to kick anymore?”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Mark nodded. “Okay.”

“Do I still get my games taken away?”

As much as he’d like to cave in to those puppy eyes, Mark had to parent. “Yes. For at least tomorrow. If you’re good at bedtime tomorrow night, I’ll let you have them again the next day.” He shook his head. “No fighting.”

“...Okay.” Her eyes drifted towards the bed.

The presence of the “O” in that “kay” let him know that Chloe was actually listening and absorbing the info.

“Why don’t we get you put to bed?” He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and held out his hand to her. “Come on, now.”

Taking his hand, Chloe led the way, padding along down the hallway towards her own room at her own pace.

“You went to the bathroom before bed?”

“Yeah.”

In her room, the lights were out, the night light on, and the bedsheets already tousled up. All that was needed was a Chloe in the bed and a Mark to say goodnight. She curled up underneath the galaxy covers, wiggled into the bed to get nice and snug, and waited for the goodnight kisses.

Before he did so, though, Mark wanted to check on her bruise. “You don’t need anything for your head? How much does it hurt?”

”It doesn’t.

”You sure it doesn’t?” She’d done this before - claiming she wasn’t in pain even though Mark could plainly see the grimaces and touch avoidances. Admittedly, she probably picked it up from him. But this time, she seemed to act genuinely okay. It was just a bruise, after all.

”I’m positive.”

”...Okay, then.” No sense pressuring her into saying any different. Now he could give her her goodnight kisses. One on each cheek, and one peck on the lips.

“Night, Dad.”

“Night, sweetie.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

But just before he left, she piped up with another “Dad?”

“Yes?”

“You mean that, right?”

“Mean what?”

“That you love me.”

Mark smiled at her. “Yes. Every time. Just as much as the last time. A fight isn’t going to change that.”

It was a moment’s pause before she responded, blankly staring into her thought bubble, perhaps trying to accept the fact that she was still loved regardless. “...Okay. Night, Dad.”

“Night, Chloe.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mark‘s gut told him that maybe the kicking and screaming weren’t the only things she had in mind when she said she was mean to him, but he didn’t want to assume, or plant any ideas in her head if they weren’t there.


	8. Something Lingers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~writing’s hard when all you can focus on is the big kiss that won’t happen for god only knows how much longer~~

**_Thursday, September 26, 2019_ **

 

_Knock, knock, knock._

“Yeah?” Chloe’s mouth sounded full of toothbrush.

“Hey, before you head out, can I have you do something for me real quick?”

“Hang on.”

Mark waited for the sound of the running water to stop and for Chloe to unlock the door and come out. “Yeah?”

“You know you don’t have to lock the door when you’re just brushing your teeth, right?”

“But it‘s weird when other people watch me do it.”

In her defense, Mark had his own spending-ten-minutes-brushing-his-teeth quirk. “If you say so. Anyway...” Mark held up a piece of paper, with the side he’d written a number of simple words in large text facing him. “Can I have you stand down the hallway a bit?”

A twinge of fear crossed Chloe’s face as she took a few tentative steps back.

“You’re not in any trouble at all, I promise.”

Her steps were ever so slightly closer to normal speed after that. With her at what he was sure was about fifteen feet away, Mark showed her the words. “Can you read this from where you are?”

Chloe squinted. Hard. “I’m trying.”

“So no, then.”

“When I’m at school, if I sit at the front, I can kinda see the whiteboard.”

 _Okay, this basically confirms it._ “All right. That’s all I needed to know. You’re free to go.” He peeked into her bedroom, checking the alarm clock, which read 6:55. “Bus should be here soon.”

“Am I gonna have to wear glasses like Bentley?”

 _Ihave no idea who Bentley is._ “Probably. We’ll have to wait and see what the eye doctor says. But if you can barely read the whiteboard, you probably are.”

Chloe seemed dejected.

“You want me to start wearing my glasses again so you don’t feel alone?”

She shook her head and made her way past him towards the stairs.

“...Okay.” _What’s wrong? Why are you so upset about glasses? Are you scared of the eye doctor? Are you afraid of being made fun of? Is it a leftover from what happened last night?_ Come to think of it, that could have been it. She still had that red streak across her face, too. But he was scared to ask to confirm, because he didn’t want her to get mad again. Anything to keep her from getting any more upset.

Mark followed her downstairs to make sure she didn’t forget anything. While she retrieved her backpack and stuffed her homework inside, Mark hurried to the kitchen to pack up her meds into the little tan purse. Couldn’t forget those! “Here.” He looped it over her neck for her. “You doing okay with your head?”

“Yeah,” she answered curtly.

 _...What’s going on in your head?_ Sadly, there was no time to ask. He cupped the back of her head and kissed the bruise. “Feel better soon.”

“‘Kay.” She kept her eyes pointed down towards his feet.

“Love you.”

Still, she was at least able to give him a return kiss on the cheek. “Love you, too, Dad.”

 

* * *

 

And not only did he and Chloe have a slightly sour morning, but he noticed Jack’s car was already gone by the time he went out for his run. Dammit. Really wanted to see him off...

Well, there was always this afternoon, and tomorrow.

Er, probably not every day, though. Who wanted to hang out with someone clingy and overbearing?


	9. All Smiles, All the Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry that it’s taking a few days between chapters now. It’s not even because of life, it’s just because of how ridiculously “not right now :(” I am as a person.

Work, work, work!

Man, Seán found himself ridiculously full of energy all of a sudden. Was it the fresh new job that beat the pants off hotel management? That definitely had to be part of it. God, he just loved being able to look at something tangible that he did (well, “helped do” at this early stage of employment), the cars he helped fix, and say to himself, _yes, I did that._

It was inevitable this euphoria would pass, but regardless, Seán could really see himself making a career out of being an auto mechanic. Couldn’t think of anything else when he was here, to be honest. Just work, work, work!

 

* * *

 

 

Today, Seán pulled into the driveway and found Mark lounging on a lawn chair, reading a book of some kind and wearing another jumper, this one gray but with some kind of design on the front he couldn’t make out amidst the folds and squishes. Was that a cat ear on the hood?

Mark lifted his head out of his book and gave him a soft smile and wave, waiting patiently as he approached. “How’s it going?”

“Great!”

He seemed taken aback by Seán’s energy, but still pleasantly grinning and laughing a little. “Must be having fun at the shop, then.”

“Sure am!” _Also I just like seeing your cute face._ “Whatcha reading?”

“Oh, some...” Mark shrugged and waved his hand. “Some dumb romance novel I got sucked into.”

“Been there.” Seán leaned over to get a closer look at the cover. It featured a pair of generic, human-shaped silhouettes facing each other, but staring up into the summer night sky.

“ _Stars Align_ ,” Seán read to himself. “Huh. Never heard of that one.”

“It’s nothing special.” He absentmindedly thumbed through the pages.

“Look, I’m a dumbass romantic, too,” Seán said to try and lighten the mood. “I know firsthand how hard it is to describe a book like that and not make it sound like the dumbest shit you ever heard.”

Mark cracked a smile and his belly quivered a little. _God, what a fuckin’ adorable man._ “I guess you have a point. Uh...” He readjusted himself. “It’s about... ‘S about this angel who shows up to this girl and becomes a decent boyfriend for her because she’d just escaped an abusive relationship and was at risk of getting into another one.”

“Whoa. That’s actually really cool. I’ve never heard of that kind of plot before.”

”Really?”

“Yeah. You really thought it was nothing special?”

Mark shrugged. “I guess I was just more embarrassed and wanted to brush it off.”

The rumble of the school bus caught their attention before Seán could possibly, maybe, sorta ask if he could borrow it when he was done. Mark’s head snapped up and he slammed the book shut in his hand. When he stood up, Seán made a point of looking at his jumper to see what was on it. A plump cat, lazily flopped over on its belly with its legs sprawled out and the words “Not Today” written above it. Mark stretched his arms up and back, and Seán was slightly disappointed about the lack of belly showing when he did.

_Oh, fuck off with that, Seán._

“Oh, God fucking dammit,” Mark muttered to himself, paging through the book again. “I’ve got my bookmark in the other hand- Goddammit...”

“Oops.”

“Well... Ah, fuck it,” he said, shoving it in his pants pocket, “I don’t have have time to worry about it right now. I gotta take my daughter to the eye doctor.”

“Have fun.”

The bus stopped right beside them. Half a dozen kids climbed off one by one, with Chloe in the middle of the pack.

“Hi, Dad. Hi, Jack.”

 _Oh, she remembered my name._ Seán beamed at her. “Hi, Chloe!”

“Don’t get too settled just yet,” Mark said as she hugged his legs. “We’re heading over to see the eye doctor.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

“‘Kay.” She paused and looked up towards Mark’s cat-eared hood, pointing at it. “Oh! You gotta put your hood up, Dad!”

Seán chuckled, sneaking behind him a smidgen.

“No, Chloe, I’m not gonna put my hood up- Wh-wha-?”

To Chloe’s giggly delight, Seán did it for him, and the tired glare he received for it was priceless.

 _Don’t encourage her,_ he mouthed.

“Haha... Sorry.”

Chloe gasped in realization and began bouncing in place and grabbing and shaking Mark’s hand. “Are we gonna get McDonald’s? Please? I’ll be good, I promise!”

Mark sighed and squeezed her hand. “Yes, we can get McDonald’s after.”

“Yaaaay!” She bounded over to Mark’s car and waved. “Bye, Jack!”

“Bye!” he called back. “Show me your glasses when you get ‘em!”

“I will!”

_What an adorable kid._

“See you around, okay?” Mark said before leaving himself.

“Tuesday at 4:00!”

“Tuesday at 4:00,” Mark repeated with a soft smile.

_I can’t wait._

_Exercise is fucking hell on my non-sweaty body, but I can’t wait._

_I..._

_I’ll never get over how much I want him, will I?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there happens to be a book out there that’s exactly like the one I described, that is a complete coincidence.


	10. More Than Meets the Eye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, this one was a pain in the ass to write. Next chapter should def be quicker and better and way more interesting.

“Whooaaa... Ew.”

Mark and the doctor laughed at Chloe’s reaction to the picture taken of the back of her eye. Certainly branching blood vessels amidst a sea of orange flesh would be “ew”-worthy for unprepared seven-year-olds.

“That’s my eye?” she asked.

“Yup!” the doctor chirped. “That’s the back of your eye!”

“That’s scary.”

”Is it? I’m sorry.”

 _A lot of things about the human body are scary, kiddo,_ Mark wanted to tell her, stifling a laugh.

“Why don’t we look at something else, then?” The doctor dimmed the lights and swiveled the big lens machine towards a terrified Chloe’s face. “It’s okay,” she reassured her with a cheerful smile. “This doesn’t hurt at all, nothing scary about it. You’ll just be looking at letters and pictures.”

Chloe turned to Mark, who nodded. “I’ve done this before, sweetheart. No pain at all.”

With greater peace of mind, Chloe faced the machine again and let the doctor put it against her face and do her thing. That was all it took. The amount of trust Chloe had in him warmed his heart.

Then again, it was sort of funny how a kid who had no problems jabbing (tiny, to be fair) needles into herself several times a day would think there was something painful about getting an eye exam.

“Whoa!”

“Which one looks better: this first one...” _Flick._ “...or this second one?”

“Second one!” Chloe was practically bouncing on the stool with excitement over how much better she could see with the help of their lenses. “I can see!”

The doctor shared in her excitement. “Yeah, you probably didn’t even know just how blurry it was before, did you?”

“Nope!”

 

* * *

 

Now Chloe could properly marvel at all the frames and skim through them and try them on. She ran towards the kids’ section as soon as the staff told her where it was, with Mark taking his own leisurely time behind her.

“Can I pick them out?” she called.

“They’re _your_ glasses,” Mark replied. “Whichever ones you want.”

“Yay! Okay, I want... These ones!” She pulled off a relatively colorful pair, putting them on and briefly checking herself out in the mirror, then pulling them off and heading back to Mark.

“You’re not gonna look at any of the others?”

No! I like these ones! And there’s literally thousands of others!” She flung her arms out, exaggerating the vastness of the wall.

Mark shrugged, figuring there wasn’t much point in arguing with her on this. “Okay. Well, we need to look at the sports goggles, too, at least. Let’s come over here.”

Chloe followed close behind, staring down at her choice. “But how come they don’t work?”

“They’re just for display. They have to make the lenses specifically for you first. Then they’ll put the lenses in those.”

“How long does that take?”

”It’ll take about a week,” the woman at the counter answered. “We have to make them just right for you, since everyone’s different.”

Chloe frowned, and Mark patted her head.

“They’ll be here before you know it. And then you’ll be the coolest kid in the school!”

She couldn’t help but crack a grin at that.

Mark pointed to the wall of goggles. “Now let’s find another pair you like. Actually, can I see those real quick while you’re looking?”

“Yeah.” Seeming to cheer up, Chloe handed Mark the glasses she picked before crouching down and browsing the goggles. Up close, the design was more intricate than Mark initially noticed. Shimmery magentas, teals, and silvers seemed to “stitch” between each other over the entire frame inside and out, with solid black outlining the front around the eyes. Mark smiled. Very pretty. Very Chloe of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~And by “interesting” I mean, well... uh... emotional. Yeah. “Emotional” is a good word.~~
> 
>  
> 
> ~~heh~~


	11. The Fear of Letting Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao I said I’d get this chapter out much quicker but I didn’t think it’d be ON THE SAME DAY. You guys get a two-for-one deal today!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~heh~~

**_Saturday, September 28, 2019_ **

_“Shh, shh, shh...”_

_There’s nothing he can do to console her. She’s in so much pain. She’s sobbing. He’s trying his best, hugging and kissing his baby girl and rocking her on his lap. But it’s not enough, and it’s tearing him apart, the sobering reality that there’s nothing he can do._

_“I’m dying, Dad...”_

_“I know, sweetheart, I know, and I’m never gonna let you go, okay?”_

_“I don’t wanna die!”_

_“You’re gonna be okay. You’re not gonna die.”_

_It’s a lie. There’s no way out of this. She’s going to die, and Mark is going to make damn sure she’s as comfortable as she can be right up until that moment._

_But he can’t get rid of the immense amount of pain she’s in. Can’t they bring her morphine? Why are they letting her suffer like this?_

_Chloe vomits a little on both Mark and herself. It’s black, and feels thick and tarry, heavy on his shirt. She sobs some more. “I’m dying, Daddy...”_

_Mark squeezes her ever tighter, paying no heed to the second round of vomit and not caring that it was getting all over his clothes._

_As if on cue, a pair of doctors come in. Mark snaps his head up._

_“We’re ready,” they say._

_“Ready for what?” Mark asks._

_“For the surgery.” Both doctors move at the same time to fetch Chloe right out of his arms. Mark doesn’t let up his iron grip on her in the slightest._

_”I wasn’t told about a surgery.”_

_“You can come with us. Don’t worry.” Now they’re hovering right over him and Chloe. He has no choice. If he doesn’t hand her over, they’ll forcibly snatch her out of his arms. But when he lets go, she screams even more._

_“No! I don’t wanna go!”_

_“Please, just trust them,” Mark tries to reassure her, standing up to follow them out the hospital room. But she ignores him, and instead gives him a piercing glare of seething hatred._

_“Why did you let me go!?”_

_With Chloe in their arms, the doctors suddenly zoom out of the room and down the hallway faster than Mark can catch up. The door slams behind them, slowing him down further as he desperately tries to pull the now-two-ton thing open._

No, no, no, no, no, no, no...

_Managing to make just a large enough opening to squeeze through, Mark sprints down the hallway towards where Chloe was taken in a flying panic. But they’re long gone, and he has no idea where they took her. There’s no way they were being truthful about taking her “to surgery”. She doesn’t fucking need surgery! She needs hospice! She needs her father! What’s surgery gonna do against a fucking black tar cancer!?_

_He’s sprinting past the nurses’ desk at the intersection with the main hallway. One man behind the desk stops him by asking, “Sir, is there something we can help you with?”_

_“Yeah, where did those other doctors with my daughter go?”_

_“I didn’t see any daughter.”_

_Mark’s panic only grows. “They had to have walked right by; how did you not see them?”_

_The nurse’s expression doesn’t change from that blank stare. “There’s no daughter. I don’t know what to tell you, sir.”_

_Now Mark’s fear is becoming tainted with a dose of anger. He slams his hands on the desk and is practically spitting in the nurse’s face. “There is, too, a daughter! My child! They said they took her to surgery! Where is ‘surgery’?”_

_”I don’t know, sir. There is no daughter.”_

_“Where did she go!?” he shrieks, coming very close to pulling his own hair. “Why can’t you just fucking tell me where you took her!?”_

_The nurse stares and shrugs._

_“Tell me! How the fuck do you not know?” His throat is sore from the screaming, he just wants his baby girl back, why won’t they just fucking tell him? “You!” He points to a woman who appears to be with the lab, and who blatantly ignores him, even as he marches right into her face. “Where’s my child? Where did you take her?”_

_She scowls and shoves him aside. Mark is livid. He wants to crush the skulls of everyone in this godforsaken hospital. Figuring he’ll never get an answer from them, he sprints down the hallway, hell-bent on finding Chloe himself if that’s what it came down to._

 

* * *

 

Mark’s eyes shot awake, and he lay in bed for a few seconds, staring out towards the handful of city lights in the window and letting it settle in that what happened was merely that goddamn dream again. And as it always did, it gave him the urge to check in on Chloe down the hall, just to make extra, super-duper sure she was still safe at home. Dumb as it was to think otherwise.

He nearly stepped on poor Chica as he climbed out of bed and headed out the door, whispering and petting a quick apology to her before heading to Chloe’s door. The doorknob gave the tiniest _click_ before opening, such that Mark was scared he’d wake her, too.

Fortunately, she stayed fast asleep, as evidenced by the snoring, and the fact that she maintained a rather uncomfortable-looking position - butt in the air, face smushed against the mattress. Not even on the pillow, at least from what it looked like in the dim glow of the night light. How kids’ necks could tolerate such abuse, Mark may never know.

The alarm clock read 3:46. He needed to get back into bed.

And he’d make it a point when he woke up to hug and kiss her before leaving for work. Even if she was grumpy and didn’t want to be woken up, he was going to.


	12. Keep in Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise next chapter will have waaaaay more Mark & Seán.

He did vow to himself to hug and kiss her goodbye before he left, didn’t he?

Mark quietly clicked open the door to Chloe’s room again, finding her sprawled out on her back this time, barely awake and blinking hard. “Hey, sweet pea.”

“Hi.” She rubbed her eyes and stretched, arching her back. “There’s no school today.”

“I know.” Mark knelt down beside her. “I just wanted to say bye before I left for work.”

“Why?”

Mark didn’t feel it inappropriate to tell her the truth right at the start of the day. “I just felt like it today.”

“Is Amy here?”

“Amy’s downstairs.” Mark draped an arm over her, and with a little confused hesitation, Chloe returned the affection.

“With Henry?”

“Yup. With Henry.” With a kiss to her temple and a slight ruffling of her hair, he murmured, “Love you, sweetheart.”

“...Love you, too, Dad.” 

 

* * *

 

_What if...?_

Today, Seán actually noticed the library he drove past on his way to work, and it made him remember that book of Mark’s. Shit, what was it called? _Stars Align?_ Whatever it was, he had to read it. An angel who became a partner to someone to help them cope and heal with a past relationship sounded too good to pass up. The rest of the drive there, he made a mental note to himself to write an actual note to himself to see if they had it. If he could find a pen and paper at work, at least.

 

* * *

Mark was a little displeased with the fact that one of his patients was in the _exact_ room that the dream took place in. Maybe if he forced himself to think about where “surgery” was in real life, it would help him navigate the dream.

_Surgery is on the second floor. It’s right above the ED. I run down the hall that way and take that elevator..._

Hopefully the patient didn’t pick up on the negativity stewing in his head.

He put on his brightest smile as he went in, ready to take his patient on a much-desired walk through the halls. At least she was the “Sweet Little Old Lady” type, enough of a delight to chat with that he almost forgot about the dream.

 

* * *

“Go fetch!”

Chloe threw the yarn bone as far as her child arm could throw it, which might not have been far enough for the dogs’ liking, as they took maybe three steps to get to it. Still, Chica faithfully brought it back to her every time. Always Chica, because she was a huge bully to the smaller Henry.

Every now and then, Chloe brought the toy to Amy to throw, and marveling at how much farther she could throw it. And every time, it was even more slobbery than the last.

Amy took a second when Chloe got distracted by a passing couple walking a pair of pugs to check the forecast, as it was quickly growing rather overcast right now.

It said there was about a 60% chance to run back inside by the end of the hour, and... God, it was supposed to get back up in the mid- to upper 80’s come Monday and Tuesday? Hello? Fall? It could come out whenever!


	13. Why Don’t You Come In?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Howdy. It’s been a hot minute.
> 
> What happened was I was first hit with a huge bout of writer’s block, then I got slapped with flu (or something else flulike) that left me too tired and miserable to write for a couple days. Following that, because I hadn’t written in a while, it was difficult to build up the motivation to back into it, instead choosing to get sucked into Let’s Go Eevee.
> 
> I don’t want to make promises (as I’m terrible about doing things regularly), but I kinda want to set a goal for myself to regularly schedule chapter uploads. We’ll see how that goes.

Seán was _thiiis_ close to outright skipping through the door. He got it! He actually got it! He got a hold of _Stars Align_! Not even the current pouring rain and howling wind (wasn’t it _just_ sunny earlier?) could bring him down, provided he protected his book by stuffing it under his jacket.

Couldn’t wait. Couldn’t do anything else right now. He ran up the stairs two at a time to the cozy comfort of his bedroom, shedding his wet clothes and throwing on an excessively large, pale gray T-shirt and some darker gray sweatpants, and clicking the nightstand lamp on.

To the music of the stormy weather, he turned to page one.

 

* * *

 

 

_To this day, despite all the millenia I’ve been alive, the fact that so many people will deliberately cause pain to their fellow people whom they have sworn to love unconditionally never ceases to amaze and appal me. And it’s nearly as painful for me to select only a lucky few to help and heal. It hurts to know that I cannot ethically impact the world at large. I can only merely change the life of one individual at a time._

_This time, my charge is a young Alyssa, and my name, Elijah. . ._

 

* * *

 

 

_Streeeetch._ Mmm. Needed to get some feeling back into his butt. He read for a solid hour, plowing about a... fifth of the way through the book, he calculated, marking his spot with a corner fold and mentally making a note to himself to get a proper bookmark.

Hm.

7:00 pm, right? That’s when Mark got off work? Seán wanted to greet him when he came home, addicted to that little bit of extra joy that came into his day upon seeing Mark’s soft, fuzzy, smiling face.

Would Mark be okay with Seán just hanging around here, though, just  waiting for him like that? Or was that too creepy?

...

Nah, he could make it not creepy. Just pop out the door and say “hey.” What was wrong with that?

 

* * *

 

 

The caffeine was probably not at all helping with his antsy heart and legs, yet the bitter, earthy taste gave him more than enough pleasure and comfort to counteract it. The storm was beginning to let up into a calmer rain _pitter-pattering_ against the window, yet the cloud cover still blackened the city. Head- and taillights breezed past and kicked up water collected along the curbs. Seán’s fingertips lightly brushed the cover of the book while he waited for the familiar face to show up.

A pair of headlights slowing down to turn into the driveway piqued his interest. There he was, that pastel lad, pulling in right on time. Seán assumed, at least. It was impossible to see anyone or anything. He could only just make out a silhouette sprinting for cover, and later the muffled sounds of opening and closing doors, and of a very brief conversation between what was definitely Mark and some woman. Maybe the one from the other day?

And soon after that, there was a knock at Seán’s door right behind him, scaring him damn near out of his skin. Praying to whatever gods there may have been that there wouldn’t be am awkward confrontation, he waited a handful of seconds and opened it.

“Hey,” Mark greeted him in a calmingly cheerful voice. “Saw you in the window, wondered if you were waiting to say hi.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Ehehe...” _Okay, this isn’t going as bad as I thought it might._ “Actually, there’s something I want to show you.” Seán held up _Stars Align_. “Ta-da! I got that book.”

“Oh, really?” Mark grinned. “You really were interested, huh?”

“Yeah, I mean... Part of it was because I wanted something new to read and...” Oh, God, this excuse wasn’t gonna go over with Mark, was it? He could see it all over his pinkening face, couldn’t he?

“I’m mostly just relieved that someone like you is interested something like that.”

“...Oh, yeah.” Seán let out a nervous laugh. “I don’t exactly look like the romantic type, do I?”

“You never know.”

An unsure silence hung between them. Mark‘s gaze drifted to the floor, then back towards his own door. His lips parted with a breath passing through them, as if he were about to say something.

“Something the matter?” Seán prompted him.

Mark took a moment to gather his thoughts, before sheepishly asking, “W-would you be okay with coming over to my place and chatting for a bit?”

Against his will, Seán’s heart fluttered. But Mark seemed a little hesitant and nervous to ask it himself, and began backtracking.

“I mean, if you’re busy, that’s fine...”

“No, I can! I’ve got nothing going on right now. I’d love to get to know you more.” _Oh, no, was that too forward? Can he tell I’m crushing? Is he going to take that to mean I want to start something? What if he says no to any kind of relationship now?_

“Yeah, I would, too, since we’re going to be around each other a lot, and you seem like a really nice guy, so...”

Seán noticed his fingers fidgeting with a bit of his shirt pocket.

“Aw, thanks.”


	14. Maybe He Does, Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N: Hey, sorry these chapters are taking a bit longer than the first dozen. This might just be how it is, now that the high of writing a new story has worn off. But don’t worry: I’m still having fun writing this, especially now that we’re getting to some real feelings. Heh.]

“Chloe’s asleep,” Mark murmured, “so just keep your voice down.”

“Okay.” Seán took a seat at the kitchen island, scanning over the slightly-familiar surroundings. Surprisingly pretty neat and tidy for someone with a kid. The worst of the mess in here was the collection of washed dishes on the drying rack. And all the magnets and papers still tacked to the fridge, but that didn’t really count.

“So what do you like to drink?” Mark asked him.

Seán eyed the box of vanilla Coke sitting on top of the fridge - but Mark probably meant more along the lines of a hot drink he could make, like coffee or tea or-

“You thinking about the Coke?”

“Oh, uh...”

“It’s fine by me if you want that.” Mark was already on his tiptoes reaching for a can, handing it to Seán before he had a chance to refuse and fetching a second for himself.

“Oh, okay. Thanks.” He lifted his can like a glass of wine for a toast, cracking the tab and listening to that crisp fizz.

“Sorry if you feel kind of weirded out by this,” Mark said, opening his. “I just thought, since I think we could be considered friends now...”

“We literally had scheduled a time to be workout buddies in a couple days,” Seán reminded him, watching the little _a-ha_ flicker by in Mark’s eyes. “I’m not weirded out by a chat.” _Even though this kinda feels maybe date-ish, if only because my dumb ass has the biggest fucking crush on you._

“Right, right, I didn’t forget that.”

Was he... blushing? No. That couldn’t be right.

“So where are you from?” Mark asked, nearly startling Seán. “I hope it’s not rude to say I noticed you have a little bit of an accent.”

“Nah, it’s not rude.” In fact, Seán was actually kind of happy to talk about where he was from. “Ireland.”

Mark nodded. “I thought you sounded Irish. What part of Ireland?”

“Oh, just some piddly little town in the middle of nowhere.”

“Country bumpkin, huh?”

“I’m not a bumpkin!”

It earned him a belly-jiggling, cheek-puffing giggle from Mark, and it was infectious, self-perpetuating between the two of them, like a pair of young schoolgirls at a sleepover, until Mark reminded themselves to shush, pointing upstairs.

Seán quieted himself with another sip. “You know, for a while there, I lived in a cabin in the woods. _Really_ middle-of-nowhere.”

“Did you like that more, or do you like cities?”

“Oh, definitely cities. No, it was lonely as fuck out there; I’d never go back.”

“Mm.” Mark gave a single nod, eyes drifting towards the countertop, losing himself in thought. “I always appreciated places like that solely for having less light pollution.”

“I can understand that.”

“I’m a space guy,” he said, his embarrassment melting away more and more as he continued speaking. “There’s this one really empty spot out northeast of here that I like going to whenever there’s some kind of astronomical event happening. Like eclipses and meteor showers and things like that.”

_So, he’s a giant nerd. I can get behind that._

“Whenever I can,” he added. “My daughter isn’t the kind of kid who’ll sit still watching the sky for minutes on end, and I can’t leave her home alone, but I also don’t want to make the babysitter stay with her here for any longer than she already does because _she_ has a life, and...” Mark trailed off as he realized he was rambling, apologizing with a handwave and a demure withdrawal back into the countertop. “Sorry, didn’t mean to get off track there.”

“It’s okay, I get rambly, too.” _Babysitter? Is that who that woman is?_

“I’m being kind of awkward, sorry.”

“You’re fine, you’re fine.”

For multiple reasons, it was now the prime opportunity to ask what’s been bugging him.

“So, uh, hey.”

Mark gave his full attention to Seán.

“Sorry if this is kinda personal, but is there, like, a mother here, or?”

Mark froze, his lips parted, his eyes widened. “Ah, it’s, uh...”

“I’m sorry,” Seán quickly added. “If it’s hard to talk about-”

He was silenced with a handwave and a head shake. “No, no, no, you’re fine. Short answer is no, there isn’t. It’s just me.”

_Oh._ “Okay. I... I won’t talk about it anymore.”

“It’s okay,” he replied, largely into the countertop.

Seán’s mind raced with possibilities. Are they divorced? Did she die? Is she in prison? Or maybe she just up and left them? None of these questions he pursued, preferring to continue sipping his Coke in tandem silence. Mark would tell him eventually, when he wanted to, _if_ he wanted to.

“Do you... want to talk about space again?”

Curiosity and uncertainty flickered across Mark’s face. “You want to listen?”

“Yeah!” Seán leaned onto the counter. “I like when people geek out over stuff. And I mean... if it’ll make you feel better.”

“...Thanks,” he said, shifting a little in his seat and sipping his Coke. “Uh, where do I start?”

“What got you interested in space?”

“Oh - my dad, actually.”

And he took off, like the previous discomfort never even happened. He went on about how his late father had gotten him a space-themed video game as a child, how he liked looking up at the stars and getting philosophical as a kid, how he would unhesitatingly volunteer to go into space at the first opportunity even if he knew it would kill him...

God, Seán was just smitten with this man gushing about something so dear to him. He caught himself adopting a dreamy position on the countertop - cradling his jaw in his palm, a little bit of a lean into it - and quickly corrected himself, hoping Mark wouldn’t notice.

  

* * *

 

Seán looked up at the clock, and took note of the black sky out the window, and noticed the gradual trailing of the conversation. “Well... I think I kept you too long.”

“Oh, don’t think that way. I’m the one who invited you in.” Mark stretched his hand across the island, waiting for Seán to take it. “It was nice talking to you,” he said, beaming.

“Yeah.” Seán shook his hand and immediately noticed the wetness. Damn. Mark really _was_ nervous, huh? Or maybe they were just always like that? “Nice talking to you, too!”

Seán felt the one-second reluctance they both had in pulling away.

 

 

* * *

 

The door barely even shut behind Mark when he began staring at his shaking, sweaty hand. That exchange... was not normal. It didn’t stir normal feelings in him.

_I..._

_I miss being touched like that..._

_Why was that the thing that did me in?_

_...Oh, fuck, I’m gonna cry._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~happy mother’s day~~
> 
>  
> 
> ~~i’m keeping my voice down to stay out of mark and chloe’s earshot~~
> 
>  
> 
> ~~i’m sure they don’t want to hear those words~~


	15. This is Your Brain on Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I procrastinate a lot. OTL

Too hot. Too cold. Too breezy. Too stuffy. Everything was uncomfortable no matter what he did. His legs were restless, his fingers fidgety, his eyelids desperate to shoot open every few seconds to relieve the heat and stickiness forming underneath them.

All the while, Mark’s mind was plagued with the memory of how soft and gentle Jack’s fingers felt curled around his own, and refused to rest until it answered the question of whether it was Jack specifically who was stirring up these feelings, or if Mark was just so desperate for affection from another adult that he latched onto the first one who gave it to him.

Yet he couldn’t deny that Jack was currently the only person whose hands he envisioned caressing his cheek, whose arms he craved to be held safe in, whose face he wanted nuzzled into the crook of his neck. Even Riley refused to stay into the picture when he tried.

Assuming he even liked men in the first place, could Jack be that “someone better” he was supposed to find?

The clock read 11:23. There was absolutely no way he was going to get enough sleep for tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

**_Sunday, September 29, 2019_ **

 

He... _maybe_ got some sleep? A couple hours, if only because of the sheer exhaustion. Honestly, he couldn’t remember if he actually, truly fell asleep or not - one of _those_ nights. Whatever he did get, it definitely wouldn’t be enough to have stable energy levels for the duration of his shift. He could be damn sure they were going to be all over the place.

Maybe if he kept thinking of Jack, he could keep his energy up.

 

* * *

 

_Yawn._

_But I don’t wannaaaaa be awake._

_But you gottaaaaaaa._

Seán pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, and let himself collapse again onto his bed. Nope. Not today.

...He’s gotta go to work. It wasn’t like they were going to care that he couldn’t sleep due to his mind bouncing around in another place for hours. Coffee. Coffee would put just a little bit of a spark in him, enough that he could get put the right clothes on and walk on two legs out the door.

But there was absolutely no doubt in his mind about what went down in that conversation last night:

Mark liked him.

Now whether Mark wanted to _pursue_ anything with him was another question entirely. If the mother had any involvement in raising Chloe, he definitely would have said so. From the sounds of it, though, she was completely uninvolved.

But even if that was the case, it didn’t necessarily mean Mark wanted a new second parent for his kid.

 

* * *

 

**_Tuesday, June 28, 2011_ **

 

“Morning, love.”

“Mm.” Mark squinted against the sun beaming down onto his face, barely able to see the hidden treat Riley brought him. Something wrapped up in a full sheet of paper, taped into a cylinder. There were small wet spots towards the middle, possibly icing. Plus, there was a card in her other hand, in no envelope.

Ah, yes, this was the big reveal he’d said he wanted to wait until today to hear, since she’d only just gone to the doctor two days ago.

“Happy birthday,” she said, setting it onto the nightstand.

“Thanks, hun.” He went to lift the paper off, but Riley gave his hand a light slap.

“No, no, no - you gotta wait until you read the card.”

Mark stuck out his bottom lip.

“You’ll see why.” She handed him the card, then sat down next to him, waiting patiently for his reaction. Man, she’d really come a long way from the initial freakout. So terrified to discover the pregnancy... now willing to accept what had happened.

_Happy Birthday, Daddy,_ read the front in stenciled primary-colored letters. _I can’t wait to meet you!_ Below that was an adorable drawing of a lion cub. Aw. Did Riley make this herself? She did, definitely. He flipped it open.

_This year I’m snuggled inside Mommy’s tummy,_

_But next year I’ll be snuggled in your arms feeling rather lucky_

More lions were drawn next to the words - a pregnant female above, and a male with a cub under his front leg below.

 _Love, your little “cub”-cake (and Mommy too)_ ❤️

He giggled at the pun, and his heart went soft. “Thank you.”

“Now you can look inside the paper.”

“Woohoo!” As much as he would have liked to just yank the paper off, he had to be careful that he didn’t accidentally destroy the frosting. Plus, it was the big reveal, right? It needed a slower, more deliberate fanfare.

First came the yellow cake part, with a few stray red, yellow, and purple flower-shaped sprinkles scattered around it; then came the swirly hat of pink frosting, coated in more flower sprinkles and little flakes of edible glitter.

He didn’t know what to think. His brain was merely overwhelmed with a vague sense of comfort and joy, and images of a tiny little baby girl curled up against him.

“So are you okay with that?” Riley asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Mark pulled her in close to him. “I’ll love my baby all the same.”

“Aw.” Riley snuggled into him. “I was just a little worried that maybe you’d have a harder time connecting with a girl instead of a boy.”

“I don’t really think that’ll be an issue, if she and I like the same things.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, the momma’s showing up!
> 
> (I hope there’s no major editing I need to do on this one.)


	16. I’m Not Ready

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh. Hi.
> 
> To make up for my obscene lateness, here’s a cute picture I drew of Mark as a Rugrat.
> 
> https://captainschmoe.tumblr.com/post/185921073972/baby-mark-doot-doo-doo-doot-doo-doo-happy
> 
> Please forgive me.
> 
>  
> 
> **EDIT: I screwed up the dates, it’s apparently Sunday but Jack’s going to hang with Mark “tomorrow” (i.e. Tuesday). Construction zone ahead.**

**_Monday, September 30, 2019_ **

“Chloe?”

“I don’t wanna get up.”

_One of those mornings, huh?_ “Well, just make sure you give yourself enough time for breakfast.”

“‘Kay.”

“You wanna see Chica?”

Chloe paused before rolling over to see if she was there. Of course the prospect of a dog would perk her up. Who wouldn’t perk up?

“Chica!” Mark called.

_Clack-clack-clack_ went her claws against the floor, and soon her nose poked inside. 

Mark knelt down as she arrived. “Oh, thassa good bup-ba.” He pointed at Chloe’s face. “Get ‘er, Chica!”

Chloe sat up, cheered up at the sight of the fluffy. “You’re not gonna attack me,” she said, hugging and snuggling her neck.

“You feeling better?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He chuckled to himself. _What would I do without you, Chica?_

 

* * *

 

**_Monday, September 23, 2011_**

 

Mark wasn’t expecting a whole lot when he checked his phone during break. But “a whole lot” decided to drop on his head.

 

**Riley:** Mark I just went to the doctor and she said im showing signs of labor already :(

**Riley:** So im gonna be in the hospital a lot so they can stall it as much as they can

**Riley:** It hasnt progressed too far yet but it def started

 

“What!?”

He just had to verbalize his shock out loud to no one. It was way too early. Way, _waaaay_ too early. The baby wasn’t supposed to show up until around New Year’s. 

 

**Riley:** Im scared, i put up with this for so long and now it might not even be worth it in the end

**Riley:** did i do somethjng wrong??? 

 

No, he needed to put an end to this spiral of bad thoughts right now.

 

**Mark:** Okay please calm down. Sometimes shit just happens

 

_It’ll be fine,_ he told himself as he texted his reassurance to Riley. _The baby will survive this. We have a great reputation here. People come from way out of town to have their babies here. Preemies survive way more often than not._

 

**Mark:** You’re at this hospital right?

**Riley:** Yeah

 

Okay. A simple, one-word answer. Good. He kept going.

 

**Mark:** Our nicu is fantastic. I never hear anything but good things from them

**Mark:** I totally trust them to keep our baby safe

**Riley:** your just saying that to make me feel better

 

Okay, maybe not so great. Stubborn as usual. 

 

**Mark:** Yeah of course i’m trying to make you feel better, i love you

**Riley:** I apprecite your honesty, ily2

**Riley:** its just hard rn

**Riley:** their gonna give me a bunch of drugs that’ll help the baby but it might also fuck up my sugars

**Riley:** and i hope its not selfish to say this but i want to live too :(

 

Why would that be selfish? Sure, this situation was stressful, but that was such a strange sentence coming from her.

 

**Mark:** That’s not selfish, that’s normal. Baby needs mom.

**Mark:** Everything’s going to be ok

**Mark:** I promise

 

* * *

 

**_Back to present_**

 

Whew. First day off. This week... This week was pretty good. Already way better than the first week of his last job. At least he’s starting this new job on a high note. Back when he was doing hotel bullshit, he dreaded stepping inside from Day One. This was so much better. This was the happiest he’d been in a long time.

Having a cute neighbor was a nice bonus.

_Oh, that’s right..._ Tomorrow was the day. If he was going to be a workout buddy, he might as well get some reps in today, to get reacquainted with his body. Seán went back to his bedroom to retrieve some light clothes, and noticed himself in the mirror upon removing his shirt. He studied himself. It’d... it’d been a while since this body had seen any real physical activity, huh?

...

Well, time to change that one-pack into a six-pack, then! Who was gonna judge? Mark? Pfft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra bonus! I also designed a Chloe in a Picrew thingy.
> 
> https://the-captains-sunken-ship.tumblr.com/post/185991012136/since-these-picrew-makers-have-become-a-trend
> 
> There’s a lot of limitations on what you can do in that program, but that’s more or less what she looks like!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~this makes up for this sorry chapter right~~


	17. The Survivor

_I’ve started to notice._

_Slowly but surely, I’ve been noticing that Alyssa is more accepting of the moments that she smiles or laughs. She keeps thanking me for it; they always do._

 

* * *

 

_Everything’s crumbling around him. Fire consumes the lower floors and a stray, glowing orange pipe slaps his cheek and leaves a scalding burn._

_From a distance, Mark swears he hears Chloe crying for help, but he doesn’t make it to her in time._

 

His eyes popped open and blinked a few times, checking back into reality with the rhythm of his own breathing. Not real. Good.

 

* * *

 

**_Tuesday, October 1, 2019_ **

 

Seán had been anxiously waiting for the clock to strike four since he stepped back into the house. He could hardly focus on anything else the entire day. What should he wear, or did that matter? Should he shower first, or wait until afterward? He stared at himself in the mirror, and the white shirt he was currently wearing, the lightest and comfiest one he could find, kind of showed the barbed-wire heart tattoo he had on his chest underneath. What would Mark think of that? Was that dumb?

_Ding-dong._ He was shaking. Why? Why was he so nervous? Wasn’t like he was planning on starting any... conversations with Mark or anything.

Seán turned the knob, and felt a wave of relief and calm upon seeing Mark’s soft, smiling face, dressed in a yellow T-shirt reading “Short Best Friend,” with the O in the side of a coffee cup, and simple black shorts. Plus he was equipped with a gray duffel bag with a small picture of a fluffy dog wearing a bandanna and holding a Frisbee in its mouth.

“Hey!” Mark chirped. “You ready?”

“Sure am.”

...Okay. Okay. This was painless.

 

* * *

 

“Huh,” Mark said after he quickly scanned the area inside. “Not as many people here as there usually are.”

Only two other women occupied the gym, an older one with a knee brace going a steady pace on the elliptical, and a second very muscley one lifting a medicine ball in the corner. Both were quiety absorbed in their own worlds, with only whirring fans providing any sort of background noise.

“All right,” Mark said. “I don’t know what you wanted to do first, or if we were gonna kinda go independently, or...”

“Probably do our own thing since I’m sure there’s no way I can keep up with you.”

“Aw, come on.” Mark retrieved a pair of weights off the rack. 30 pounds? Jesus. “No need to put yourself down like that.”

“Well, I’m definitely gonna need something a little less than 30 pounds.” He picked up some 15-pounders. These felt okay.

“That’s fine.” Mark eyed the weights Seán picked up. “Just remember that weights get heavy really fast.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“If you say so.”

Seán proved it to him by doing the first lift, just a basic bicep curl, nothing too crazy. Mark followed suit.

This felt a little awkward now. It had been a long time since Seán had done any weightlifting and his body felt physically uncoordinated. Like he was doing it wrong. So, assuming Mark knew what he was doing, he stood back and followed his lead instead.

It didn’t help that this place needed some music. Wasn’t there a little CD player or a radio anywhere, or was Seán going to have to resolve the issue himself?

He caught himself staring at Mark’s butt as the latter pushed himself through a few more reps, as well as the veins popping from his forearms and his face grimace and turn pink with every heave. God damn. It was impressive how outmatched Seán was ( _Yes, it’s definitely his abilities,_ he told himself, _not his thickness._ ), especially now that he was beginning to notice that, yes, the weights were getting a lot heavier with each passing lift. And Mark said he “wasn’t in the best shape”?

Well... what else should he have expected from a Morning Person? Now Seán was scared if he switched out weights, he’d get judged.

Before Mark could notice him staring, Seán distracted himself by belting out the only appropriate gym song.

_“Rising up! Back on the stree-eet!”_ He embraced his own voice cracks and did his best to ignore the screams from his arm muscles. _“Did my time! Took my chances!”_

Mark chuckled and smiled, silently glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. Good.

_Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet!_ \- gasp - _Just a man and his will to surviiiiiive!”_

Okay, maybe he didn’t have the lung power to do the entire song like this. Kind of embarrassing that he was already losing his breath.

Sometime partway through the verse, he heard a deep humming from Mark, following along from down an octave.

The song didn’t much help Seán fight through the pain, as much as he wanted to deny it.

_”Rising up_ \- gasp - _to the challenge_ \- gasp - _of our ri-hi-vuhs...”_

“Hey.” Mark stopped his own lifting, turning towards Seán, concerned. “I really think you need lighter weights.”

“I- I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Mark fetched a couple of smaller weights from the rack. “Use these.”

“Five pounds!?”

“Please. I’m worried you’re gonna really hurt yourself.”

_Hah... hah..._

His fingers were so close to dropping the current weights right onto his toes. And Mark’s pleading eyes forbade him from saying no. Seán bent over, set the weights onto the floor, and took the smaller ones. They _did_ feel better...

“Thank you,” Mark said. “You now have my permission to keep singing.”

 

* * *

 

_Fuck, I’m dying._

Seán sat on the nearest bench, arms ready to fall off, scratching the itches tormenting his entire upper body, dying of thirst. Dumbass. Forgot a fucking water bottle. He knew there was a fountain out and around the corner, but... that involved walking, and he was seeing stars just sitting.

“You all right? Here.” Mark handed him his own water bottle, covered in crisp, cool water droplets and making the distinctive clunking sound of a block of ice inside of it. “I promise I wiped my germs off.”

Seán held himself back from snatching it out of his hands and guzzling the entire thing down, instead gingerly taking it with a “thank you” and savoring the cold comfort in his hand and throat. He stopped after about a quarter of it was gone and handed it back.

“You sure you had enough?”

“I don’t want to drink all of yours. Just enough to give me the energy to get and go to the fountain.”

“...If you say so.” Mark sat down next to him, mere inches away, seeming to deliberately avoid touching his sweaty arm against Seán. “Just... please don’t overdo it. You don’t need to show off for me or try to match me or anything. We’re just here to have fun.”

The way Mark held onto Seán’s gaze was hypnotizing and made him feel so soft inside.

“I just want to save you from a sprained wrist. That happened to me once.”

“...Okay. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mark has a good butt.


	18. It’s Pretty Gruesome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s your Writer Woe of the Day.
> 
> https://captainschmoe.tumblr.com/post/186507184977/me-my-brain-can-you-please-just-write-the-scene
> 
> Also, it’s been forever since I’ve played Guitar Hero or Rock Band so pardon me if I made a factual error there.

Eventually, Seán was able to put his arms back on their shoulders and make his way out the gym behind Mark, stopping to slurp up some lukewarm and very metallic water out of the fountain. Yuck.

“So was that all right?” Mark asked, turning back to him.

“Huh?”

“Is this something you’d like to do again next week? Assuming you take it easy.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Hanging out with you’s fun.” _I’d totally do more than once a week if it was possible, but..._

“I feel the same!” Mark beamed back at him as he opened the door to outside, and Seán felt his face start flushing a little. At least he could pass it off as post-workout overheating if questioned. “You know, I’m glad to have you as a neighbor.”

“Aw, thank you. Me too.”

The muggy and stagnant air of summer was still clinging on for dear life as the changing leaves tried to shove it aside and make room for fall’s rightful place in the calendar. Oh, that was right, today was Halloween 1st, wasn’t it? The spoopy bat, pumpkin, and witch decals in a nearby window reminded him of that.

Wonder what Chloe was going to be?

“Blech.” Mark finished off what was left in his bottle. “Hope it cools off soon.”

“Sorry again for drinking all your water.”

Mark shook his head and waved it off. “Oh, you’re fine.”

The sound of little dogs snarling and yapping snapped both of their heads towards the park, where a pair of dachshunds were harassing a chihuahua mix.

“Maybe we could bring Chica and run around out here next time,” Mark wondered aloud.

“That could be fun.”

“You have any dogs? Or cats, or anything?”

“Uh, no. I want one, though.” As he spoke, Seán envisioned a generic brown and white beagle, running up to him and jumping up for head scritches. Goddammit, now he missed this made-up dog. “I love dogs, I just don’t know if I’m actually ready to get one yet. Since I live alone and it’d spend most of its time alone...”

Mark nodded. “I hear ya. That’s very responsible of you.”

The pair reached the door into their townhouse too soon. Mark went first, opening it up and standing off to the side, gesturing Seán through. “After you.”

“Thanks.”

Inside the foyer was much quieter, and refreshingly cool. Seán breathed it in deeply.

...Now what did he do or say?

Fortunately, it seemed that Mark was a little awkward with goodbyes, too, with the two of them standing close to their respective doors and exchanging nervous smiles and giggles. Seán broke the ice.

“So... See you later?”

“Yeah... See ya.”

After a small moment of hesitation, Mark went over and put his arm around Seán’s shoulders and gave him a quick half-hug.

“Aw...” Seán gave him an arm in return, patting the middle of his back. “Thanks, buddy.”

He felt Mark’s belly quiver in tiny laughter, and resisted the urge to give him a fuller hug, heading into his home.

He never saw Mark turning around and opening his mouth, about to ask him his number, then deciding against it.

 

* * *

 

“Heyo!” Mark called as he stepped inside, yelling loud enough to be heard over the music and banging sounds happening in the living room.

“Hi, Dad!” Chloe called back. “I’m playing Guitar Hero with Amy.”

That much he’d deduced already, and sure enough, Chloe was the one banging on the drums as she usually did.

“She keeps wanting to do the really hard songs,” Amy said.

”Yeah, she always likes a challenge.”

“I wanna do ‘Hammer-Smashed Face’!”

Amy sighed. “You can barely do the one we’re doing right now.”

_What the hell is_ that _song?_

 

* * *

 

**_Tuesday, November 8, 2011_ **

 

“Hey, Mark?”

“Yes?”

Mary stood halfway into her office door, curling her finger for Mark to come in. “Could you come in the office for a moment, if you’re not too busy?”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t sure what to expect. Was there some kind of problem, or was there an announcement he missed, or?

“So... Go ahead and have a seat.”

The gentleness in her voice suggested that he wasn’t summoned for a bad reason. Both of them took their seats. The warm glow of the lamp and the squishy cushion under his butt helped to calm him down.

“I just brought you in here to say that your wife has been trying to call you, but you must have been busy, so, whenever you can.”

_Oh, no. Is this about the baby?_ “O-okay, thanks.”

“If there’s a serious family issue going on, please let us know and we’ll let you take some PTO, is that alright?”

“Yeah, I think...” Mark swallowed. “See, she started going into early labor about a week ago, so I wonder if it’s...”

Mary nodded. “You’re absolutely allowed to spend some time with your wife and baby if they’re here.”

“Okay.”

 

* * *

 

“Riley?”

“Hey.” Her voice was hoarse and weak, like she’d been screaming or crying for a good while. “Um... Sorry you missed the whole thing, but... baby’s here.”

“It’s okay; things just happen sometimes. Where are you at?”

“NICU Room 1022.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. I can take time off to come see you.”

_Sniff._ “Okay.”

“It’s gonna be okay, babe.”

“It’s just hard to look at her...”

 

* * *

 

**_Back to present_ **

 

_My arms..._

 

Seán thought a warm bath might help. That’s really all he wanted to do, was sit and soak and do nothing for the next week. Tomorrow was going to be hell at work, but he had to power through it.

 

At least now he knew his limits. And that Mark doesn’t mind his screechy singing voice.

 

Wonder if he was into any music...

 

* * *

 

Out of curiosity, Mark searched up a lyric video for “Hammer-Smashed Face” on Youtube and couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Chloe would ever want to play that. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to recent events on Mark’s channel, I feel like I need to make him tell Chloe to “go get ‘em, tiger” at some point.


	19. Now I See

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Guess why I was late this time?
> 
> I WAS PLANNING.
> 
> That’s right, I was actually trying to map out some of the events that I want going on in future chapters so I don’t write myself into a hole. Specifically, I really needed to hammer out the details of what exactly went down with Mark and Riley, and I think I’ve got it now. ^^
> 
> Anyway, here’s a Chloe pic I drew.
> 
> https://the-captains-sunken-ship.tumblr.com/post/187324112246/i-drew-chloe-in-the-pikachu

**_Tuesday, November 8, 2011_ **

 

Room 1022.

_Knock-knock-knock._

“Come in.”

Mark peeked through the door, finding Riley sitting on a stool in a hospital gown, next to the incubator. A nurse stood at a nearby computer, probably charting something, and she gave him a bright “Hi!” and a reminder to wash his hands, which he did.

“Well...” Riley gestured to the mass of tubes, wires, and blanket inside. “Here she is.”

“Is this the father?” the nurse asked.

“Yes.”

Mark found and pulled over a folding chair and sat down next to the baby, Riley scooting aside to make room.

Chloe.

“Well,” the nurse said, “she’s actually doing pretty well, considering.”

He glanced over at Riley. Dark circles hung under her tired gray eyes. Her normally-vibrant, springy red hair was tousled with obvious neglect. The joy she had at the beginning of this year had been thoroughly sucked out of her soul by now. Or maybe she was just fucking tired from having to be in the hospital, in labor, pumped full of drugs for a week.

Regardless, she was alive.

Mark playfully nudged her elbow. “You also look like you’re doing pretty well, considering.”

She weakly laughed, instilling a small sense of guilt in him. He swallowed and asked the nurse, “Is it okay for me to touch her?”

“Yeah, just make sure you’re gentle since she’s quite fragile.”

“I will.”

He scooted his chair closer to the baby’s head, taking the time to really study her features. Skin pink and wrinkly with virtually no fat underneath. A thin layer of wispy black hairs on her head. Tubes snaked into her nose and veins. Her diaper reached all the way up to her nipples. His hand was almost bigger than her whole body.

Mark stroked a finger along her cheek, knowing there would be no reaction from her, yet hoping for a miracle anyway. A lump drew in his throat.

_Baby._

_My baby._

_Chloe._

 

* * *

 

**_Wednesday, October 2, 2019_ **

 

“Chloe!” Mark sang as soon as she dragged herself through the door.

“What?”

“Just got a call from the eye doctor and your glasses are here!”

Her face lit up and she literally jumped for joy a couple times. “Yay!”

“So we’re gonna go pick ‘em up right now, okay?”

“‘Kay!” Chloe dropped her backpack onto the floor and hurried back out to the car, waiting for her dad to move his slow butt after her.

 

* * *

 

“Whoa-oa!” Chloe’s eyes widened as soon as she put them on.

The receptionist giggled. “You look so cute with those on!”

“Why’s everything so...” She motioned her hands in big semicircles in front of her. “Curvy?”

“That’s normal,” Mark answered. “It’ll look like that for a few days before your eyes get used to it. Happened to me, too.”

Chloe spent the next several seconds walking in circles and gazing around at the store, marveling at all the new clearly-defined shapes and colors around her, while Mark finished up all the warranties and whatnot. Kid was definitely going to break her frames at some point, if her current energy level was any indicator.

“Okay, kiddo, let’s head back home.”

Chloe stopped spinning, wobbling from side to side. “‘Kay. Whooaaa.”

“Please don’t throw up in the store.”

 

* * *

 

She stared in awe out the window the entire ride back home. “Look at all the tiny stuff, Dad!”

“Yeah!”

“Like I see all the little leaves in the trees and the bits of grass on the ground and like, the wood parts in people’s windows!”

He chuckled at her amazement of the mundane. “Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yeah!”

The conversation came to a natural pause, then Chloe asked, “Didn’t you say you have glasses?”

“Yeah, but I usually wear my contacts.”

“What are contacts?”

“They’re these little rubbery things you put directly onto your eyeball.” He did his best to mimic the motion for her while still paying attention to the road.

“What!? Ew!”

Mark laughed at Chloe’s shock and disgust. “Would you like to see me in glasses instead?”

“Yeah, so you can stop being so gross!”

 

* * *

 

“...What?”

Mark double-checked to make sure he had the right key out. Yeah, it was the right one. But... why not?

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know.” Mark knelt down in front of the door, peering into the keyhole. Something was physically obstructing the key from going in, and he could kind of see it in there. Something metal and bronze-colored, like the rest of the knob. Did the lock break and fall out of place somehow? “I think it’s broken. I can’t get the key in.”

“But then how do we get inside?”

Mark could see the worry growing on Chloe’s face. He stood and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “We’ll have to call maintenance and see if they’ll fix it for us.”

“What if they can’t?”

“They can.” He patted Chloe’s hair and put the phone up to his ear. “There’s people out there whose entire jobs are just fixing locks- Yes, hi, this is Mark Fischbach calling about a broken lock...”

Chloe seemed to accept the answer, waiting for Mark to finish the call, and peeking into the lock herself to see what was going on.

_”Well,_ said the guy on the other end, _the soonest we can have someone come by and look at it is... probably around midday tomorrow.”_

“That’s fine,” Mark rushed out without thinking. _Shit._

_”All right then... And what’s your address again?”_

Mark told them, and in a mere ten seconds, that was that. His damn mouth just got them locked out until then, solely because he felt bad making it sound like an “emergency” when they weren’t in any life-threatening danger.

“So are they gonna fix it?” Chloe asked as soon as he hung up.

“Not until tomorrow.”

Her eyebrows furrowed with worry. “But where are we gonna sleep?”

“I mean... I don’t know, we may have to... sleep in the car or something.”

“I don’t wanna sleep in the car!”

“Chloe, calm down.”

A light seemed to go off above her head. “I’m gonna ask Jack.”

“No, don’t-!”

But she already rang his doorbell before Mark could stop her.

“Chloe!”

He grabbed her hand, but it was too late. Now what was going to do? Explain to Jack what was going on and just expect him to casually bring them into his home? Overnight?

“Why not?”

“Because we hardly know him!” Mark whispered. “It’s weird to ask someone t-”

_Click. Creeaak._

“Hey!”

“A-ah, hey.”

Jack directed his attention to Chloe. “Hey, you got new glasses!”

“Yeah! They’re cool.”

“They sure are!”

Mark felt his face overheating and his palms becoming drenched with sweat. Words failed to come out of his open mouth, and Jack picked up on it.

“You okay?” he asked him.

“I, uh...” He looked over at the doorknob, as if that was going to communicate the problem to him.

Chloe chimed in, “We’re locked out.”

“It broke,” Mark clarified, finally. “I called maintenance but they won’t be here till tomorrow. And she decided she was gonna ring your doorbell about it, so...”

“Oh.” Jack’s eyes lit up, now understanding what was really being asked.

God, this was so-

“You’re saying you need a place to sleep?”

Mark’s head tilted back up to meet Jack’s eyes. “Wait, what?”

“I’ll totally let you crash in here if you need to. It’s not a big deal.” A smile broke across his face, sending butterflies to Mark’s stomach. “I’m happy to help!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My own lock broke like that once. It was weird.
> 
> At first I thought it’d be unrealistic to make the guys have to sleep in the same house this early on, but then I remembered what happened in the fic _Fasten Your Seatbelts_ , and I was fine with that, so I think we’re good lol.
> 
> Screw realism, we have a plot to advance.


	20. Neighbor Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uuuuugggggghhhhh, big-time writer’s block.
> 
> In case you didn’t notice, I’ve removes the “slow burn” tag. Their relationship is going to advance soon and quickly because I feel that’s the only way I’ll enjoy writing it. I’m sorry to those who wanted a slow burn.

“Welcome to my humble abode.”

...Huh. Not to stereotype, but Mark was expecting something a little more of Jack’s badass aesthetic. Mostly, it seemed he was just a huge nerd. Posters of Deadpool, Spiderman, and what he guessed were some video games that were titled _Shadow of the Colossus_ and _Bloodborne_ , which were adorned with symbols that he recognized as the tattoos on Jack’s arms, were hung up in the living room. And there was a bookshelf with an assortment of toys and figures - some rather childish, like a bottle of blowing bubbles and a Nerf gun. Seemed like he had quite the wide variety of interests.

Like a human being, he supposed.

In an out-of-the-way spot, high up on the living room wall above the couch, Mark noticed a surprisingly cute cross-stitch of a pair of rabbits facing each other with the text “Self-care is very punk rock” stitched above them, with sunflowers on either side.

Chloe’s interest was immediately geared towards a toy on the shelf and her feet made a mad dash for it.

“Pikachu!”

Mark opened his mouth to stop her, and sighed when all she did was stare, without touching anything. “I’m so sorry; she’s easily excited,” he said, though Jack just laughed.

“It’s okay. She can’t hurt anything.”

Chloe tentatively touched the Pikachu, glancing back at Jack to watch his response.

He smiled. “You can play with the models if you want.”

“Thanks! Pika, pika!”

Chloe took it and some other skeleton character in a blue jacket the shelf and started making them battle. _Click-click-click!_

“Piiiii-ka-CHUUUU!!! Ahhh! Nooo! You zapped me!”

_Clatter._

“Okay, who wants a piece of me next?” Chloe grabbed a whole bunch of figures off the shelf and sat down on the floor with them, continuing to make Pikachu battle and shock them.

“Just make sure you get those all put back on the shelf when you’re done playing, okay?” Jack called.

“‘Kay!” she responded with an upward head tilt of acknowledgement.

Jack chuckled as he pulled out a stool at the kitchen counter and sat down. “What a sweet kid.”

“Usually,” Mark said, taking a seat himself opposite Jack.

“Yeah, I bet she’s probably a handful if you’ve gotta look after her all the time.”

“Most kids are.”

Jack hummed and nodded. “I don’t know how you can do it by yourself.”

_I don’t, either._

“You want something to drink? You’re free to have whatever you want. I’ve got Coke right down here,” he said, reaching down, “like last time, heh.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Except it’s vanilla this time.” He held up a can and gave it the smallest, safest shake.

“That’s fine.” Mark gratefully took it from his hand, savoring the feel of his fingertips again as they overlapped and slid across each other. His nose was suddenly touched with a faint, sweet floral scent. Perhaps it was a soap Jack used. His hair did look quite a bit fluffier than it did yesterday. “Thank you, again.”

Silence followed the cracks and fizzes of their opening cans. It was actually quite comfortable, at least for Mark. How nice it would be if he could just chill with him on the couch, doing nothing else at all but snuggle against his beating heart, and let it heal his own, and maybe run some fingers through his freshly-washed, poofy hair for good measure.

Maybe he should say something, see if he could steer a conversation in the right direction.

“So how’s everything been going?” he asked, making Jack’s eyes widen in surprise at the sudden chat.

“Mm!” Jack swallowed the mouthful of Coke he had. “Uh, same as it’s been since we last spent time together, uh...” He checked his invisible watch. “...one day ago.“

“I meant, like, how’s your muscles doing?” _Is that the way to go?_

“Better,” Jack answered, rolling his shoulders. “All things considered, I felt pretty good after. Like, mood-wise, at least. Took a nice bath last night.”

“Good!” That explained the flower smell. “That means I’m allowed to drag you to another session, right?” He nervously giggled, hoping the humor would go down well, and Jack squinted at him and snorted in... he guessed amusement? “Or, I mean, we could do something else. We don’t _have_ to be workout buddies necessarily, we could just...” His hands aimlessly gestured around, mouth still not quite ready to say the word ‘date’ yet. “I don’t know. Something?”

“Maybe if the weather’s nice, we can run around out in the park with your dog-”

_Dog!?_

Mark jolted, hand flying up to his mouth. “Shit, Chica!”

“Whoa, what?”

“Oh, no...” Feet fidgeting, heart pounding, glancing back at the door while his head fell into his hand. He was tempted to get out of his seat, but where would he go? What would he do? “What do I do, she’s gonna be alone the whole night - oh, fuck, she’s gonna be alone until I get back from work tomorrow...”

“Mark, please calm down.”

“Look, I don’t remember if I left out any food or water for her-”

“Mark!”

Jack suddenly reached across the table, grabbing Mark’s hand and yanking it down to the countertop. It made him realize he was hyperventilating, close to tearing up, even. He held him like that for a long several seconds, even curling his fingers around his hand and squeezing.

“She’ll be fine.”

_I-I want to trust you..._

“One night is not going to seriously harm her.”

His gaze held onto Jack’s eyes. It seemed to relieve his panic... but it didn’t exactly calm him. He could feel it. The vessels in Jack’s hand throbbing against the back of his own. Sweat built up on Mark’s palms. He squeezed back.

It fortunately wasn’t unwelcome, as he could tell by Jack’s pinkening cheeks and the subtle upturn of the corners of his mouth. God, they both _really_ wanted to say something, didn’t they? Only the current stress was stopping them. As soon as it was gone-

“Hey, Jack?”

“Gah!” Startled, Mark yanked his hand back. Chloe bounded for the kitchen counter, Pikachu in hand, seeming not to notice what just happened between them as she didn’t comment on it.

“Can I see upstairs?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, sure. Although, actually...” Jack pushed his stool out and stood up. “I’d rather we come up there with you since there’s more breakable stuff up there.”

“Aw,” Chloe said, pouting. “I’ll be careful.”

“I know, but just in case. I’m paranoid about some things. I wouldn’t even let other grown-ups up there by themselves, either.”

“...Fine.”

Managing to push himself up to a stand, Mark followed them up, with Chloe leading the way. At some point, he‘d have to figure out a good time to say what he wanted to say to Jack. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow morning?

_Sigh._

Chica... That poor dog. It was going to eat at him the entire night, but there was nothing he could do other than prepare himself for the potty mess he or Amy would have to clean up when they got home. Probably should leave a note on the door so she isn’t wondering why Chica has no food or why she peed and pooped inside or anything.

“Whoa!” Chloe yelled, yanking him out of his train of thought. “You got drums in here?”

Drums? Like, real drums? “Please don’t mess with his things without asking,” Mark reminded her. He walked a little faster down the hall amd peered into the bedroom Chloe had pranced into. Indeed, there was a full, genuine monochrome-colored drumset. More posters of rock and metal bands he didn’t recognize adorned the walls. It made him a little uncomfortable, to be honest, how violent they looked, despite the reassurance from the handful of cutesy decorations downstairs.

“Jack, can I mess with your things?”

Her typical bluntness helped lighten the mood, at least. Both of them laughed.

“Yes, you can mess with my things,” Jack said.

“Yay!” Chloe ran to sit on the stool, and her eyes went wide with wonder. She didn’t seem to know what to do first, aimlessly tapping her fingers on the drum heads.

“It’s way fancier than your Guitar Hero drums, isn’t it?” Mark asked.

“Yeah.”

Jack’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you like playing drums?”

“Kinda.” Chloe’s eyes were focused on all parts of the drumset, which was comically giant in comparison to her body, and her fingers tapped on the head of each of the drums. “I don’t really know what I’m doing, though.”

“I don’t, either, to be honest. I hadn’t practiced in a long time before moving here.”

“Dad’s got a guitar,” she added, “but he doesn’t play it anymore.”

Mark’s ears perked up. Oh. That. He completely forgot about that old thing.

“Oh, whoa!” Jack exclaimed. “You have a guitar?”

“Er, uh... Yeah, I guess.” Mark’s hand went to the back of his neck. The thought of playing it again - for Jack - briefly tickled the back of his mind. “It’s been so long since I’ve even looked at it, so I honestly forgot I even had it.”

“What stopped you from playing? Just didn’t like it anymore, or?”

_...Why_ did _I stop playing it, anyway?_ “I guess I just got interested in something else at some point and dropped it. I used to sing, too, but I haven’t done that much, either.”

“Hey, that means we’ve almost got a full band here!”

“Woohoo!” Chloe danced in her seat. “I wanna be in it, too!”

 

* * *

 

Pizza was the best option they’d decided on for their emergency, “sorry-I’ve-got-nothing-in-my-pantry” dinner. And Mark’s heart dropped when he saw that Jack had ordered pineapple and mushrooms on his half. Yet he held his tongue, stuffing his face full of a _normal_ supreme before any harsh criticism could come out.

And due to this politeness, he could only helplessly watch as Jack offered a bite to Chloe.

“Want some?” He held out an unbitten piece of his half out to her, making sure to get one with that vile topping combo on the tip.

She flattened her lips and hummed in contemplation. “Mm, sure.”

Jack held it closer to Chloe’s gaping mouth and let her take a bite, giggling as she chomped down on it with an audible _homph_ and ended up with strings of cheese on her chin after pulling back. She stared off into space for a few seconds as she chewed, trying to figure out her opinion on it.

“...’S good,” she determined with her mouth still full.

Unbelievable. Mark resisted the urge to smack her.

 

* * *

 

“Uh, I don’t know where you guys wanna sleep, so...”

“Oh, we can take the couch,” Mark said. “Actually, Chloe, why don’t you take the couch, and I can sleep in the chair?”

“You sure?” Jack asked.

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine.” Mark was already putting the footrest up and leaning back. He outstretched his arms. “I’m a dad, remember? I gained ultimate sleeping power the second she was born.”

Jack laughed, and made way for the stairs. “Well, if you insist. I’ll try and dig up a couple blankets for you.”

While he was gone, Chloe squished herself into the crack in the coffee-brown couch where the back and the seat met and laid her head on a stiff-looking green throw pillow. “Mm, comfy.”

“Hang on, Chloe, remember to take your glasses off before bed.” _Also, ‘comfy’? Are you serious?_ Well, he supposed she was only seven. She’d sleep on a hardwood floor just to prove she could. “Set ‘em on the table over there.” He pointed to a small end table next to her head.

“Why?”

“Because you might move your head and crush them in your sleep. Everyone who has glasses doesn’t wear them while they’re asleep. I didn’t.”

“‘Kay.” She did as she was told, not knowing to fold the earpieces in, but Mark wasn’t in the mood to correct her right now.

Footsteps came back down the stairs, and with them, a handsome young lad carrying some dark, fluffy blankets. “Sorry if they smell kinda weird. They’re my winter blankets, so they’ve been stuffed inside a drawer for months.”

“That’s okay.” Half-joking, he added, “Lay it on me!”

Either Jack thought he was serious, or played along, as he set down one blanket and flapped the other one until it unfolded, and draped it over him, catching Mark by surprise and making him feel a little bit like a baby. “There you go.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean you really had to do that, but thanks, anyway.”

“No problem, man.” Jack helped untangle the foot end of the blanket, draping it over his feet, and giggling when Mark decided to wiggle his toes at him. “There. That good?”

“Yeah.”

“My turn?” Chloe piped up, bouncing in place a little.

“‘Course I’m not gonna neglect you!” he said, flashing her a playful grin as he retrieved the second blanket. “Hi-yah!” With an extra flourish, the blanket floated down over Chloe’s body, accidentally also covering most of her face. “There we go!” he joked.

“Hey!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding...” Jack tugged on the blanket from the foot end, then proceeded to actually tuck her in, flattening the blanket over her chest. It... pleasantly surprised Mark, how dad-like he was.

...Hmm.

Chloe snuggled deeper into the couch, her head nearly sliding off the pillow. “Mmm!”

“What do we say when someone helps us, Chloe?” Mark reminded her.

“Thanks, Jack.”

“Aw, you’re welcome!” He beamed. God damn, he was cute. He made Mark feel so warm and fuzzy inside... it was addicting.

As far as he could tell, Jack seemed like an almost-perfect himan being, poison pizzas notwithstanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird to think this story no longer takes place in the future.

**Author's Note:**

> Due to who I am as a person, this fic will take a few weeks, even over a month sometimes, to update. Please be patient.


End file.
